The Next New Guardians
by Cows111
Summary: A jock, a prep, a nerd, a geek, and a comedian. Will this group of five be able to pull off saving the world as the next new Guardians of the Veil? Or will they end up tearing each other apart instead? Rewritten ending.
1. Chapter 1

1

Disclaimer: I do NOT own W.I.T.C.H.

* * *

CeCe was confused. She just woke up to find herself just floating. She looked down and saw that she couldn't see the ground. All she could see was a bunch of clouds. Then, it hit her. She was in the sky! CeCe started to panic, probably because she had a fear of heights. She was looking around, when something caught her eye. It sort of looked like a giant white castle in the middle of a sea of clouds. She cupped her hands around her eyes so that it looked like a pair of binoculars when she noticed it.

Her hands were gone!

CeCe started to panic even more. She couldn't see her hands, but she could still feel them. It was like her hands were invisible! She looked at down at the rest of her body and realized that all of it was invisible too. So ten to one, her head was probably invisible as well. It was like she was made out of air.

Suddenly, CeCe felt a presence behind her. She turned around and saw four vaguely looking human things. One looked like a person made of... Fire? Another looked like a person made from water. The third looked like they were made up of some kind of pink lightning, and the final one looked like a tree person with long blond hair. It was like they were made up of the 4 elements plus 1. Water, fire, earth, air, and... Lightning? Then, she noticed it. In the middle of their little circle was a jewel. It was pink, bright, beautiful, and had a long silver chain. The jewel was mystifying. It sent off waves of calmness and unity. It made CeCe feel like she was a part of something special, like she belonged.

Soon without warning, the jewel started to glow.

"CeCe." The jewel got brighter.

"CeCe." It got even brighter.

"CeCe!" And brighter.

"CeCe!" This time the jewel got so bright that CeCe had to shut her eyes.

"CeCe Ridgewood!" Then, everything went black.

* * *

CeCe's POV

"CeCe, wake up."

"Huh?" I said sleepily while wiping my eyes.

"Wake up."

"What?" I yawn. I looked up and saw that the teacher was standing over me. Oh crud.

"I said 'Wake up.' And now that you are awake, do you mind telling us what ecology is?" the teacher said.

"Ecology?" I said nervously. "Yeah, ecology is the study of... Life?" The class burst into laughter while I sunk down into my seat, totally embarrassed. I'm pretty sure my face was as red as a tomato.

"Nope. That's Biology, which is this class that you're in now. Ecology is the study of interactions between living and nonliving things," she said while trying to not laugh.

"Oh," I said becoming even redder if that was even possible. I felt pretty stupid.

It was then that I noticed some person I didn't know sitting a couple of seats over from me. She had shoulder length light brown curly hair, dark green eyes, and pale skin. She was wearing black sweatpants, a dark pink sweatshirt, and white tennis shoes. Her face was carrying a smirk, and to me, it felt like she was giving off a tough girl kind of vibe.

I didn't know who this person was, so I poked my ex best friend's back. Ex best friend? Well, yeah. You see we were best friends forever since kindergarten until about 7th grade when she practically ditched me for other more popular friends. I wish we were best friends forever again. Now, she's an infielder, or popular person, while I'm still an outfielder. At least she's still pretty nice to me and she's like the only infielder that talks to me. Well, kindly anyways.

"Hey, Kara," I whispered.

No response. I poked her again. "Kara," I whispered a little more loudly.

Kara turned her head around. "What?" she whispered back a little annoyed. Whoa. Kara really had changed. Her short dark brown hair was now cut into a stylish bob, and her brown eyes were surrounded by mascara and eye shadow, which neither of us ever put on. She was wearing really skinny skinny jeans and a frilly white top instead of her normal baggy jeans and oversized sweatshirts. The only same thing she wears now is her brown cowboy boots.

"Hello, CeCe, is anybody home?" she said while waving her hand in front of my face.

I shook my head. "Huh?"

"You said, 'Hey, Kara.' I asked, 'What?' And then you sort of spaced out."

"Oh yeah. Who's the girl sitting over there?" I pointed to where the girl was sitting.

"That's AJ Norman. She was introduced while you were in dream world. She's a new student. She's also a freshman, so that would make her a little tuna just like us."

I laughed. At least Kara still had some of her sense of humor.

We froze when we heard fake coughing coming from the front of the room. "Sorry to interrupt you, girls, but if we could continue our lesson, that would be great," the teacher said nonchalantly.

"Sorry, Mrs. Vandom," we said.

"It's all right," she said. "Just try to not talk during class."

"Okay."

"Good, now let's continue our notes..."

* * *

CeCe's POV

"Hey, Sam, over here!" I scream really loudly, while waving my arms wildly. Biology is over and now it's lunchtime, one of the best parts of the school day.

Sam then walks over here and takes a seat next to me. "Hey," she said. "So..."

"Guess what?" we both say at the same time. We giggled.

"You go first," I said still giggling.

"Thanks. Anyway, guess what? I got an A+ on that volcano project."

"Really? That's awesome!" I said with a huge grin plastered on my face. Sam is really smart, like genius level smart. She gets straight A's and is taking like all honor and AP classes, except for biology.

"Now your news."

"Oh yeah. Guess what?" I said getting all excited and hyper. "We've got a new student! Her name is AJ and she seems pretty cool!"

"Yeah, I know. All 3 of us are in Biology together." It was true, and I totally forgot. In Biology, she sits on the other side of the room from me, so we don't really get to talk to each other that much in that class.

"Oh yeah. Sorry. I forgot. You know I have some memory problems."

"Yeah, I know you do. Short term memory loss, right?"

"Yup," I said with a smile. Then, I spotted AJ walking around the cafeteria with her lunch. "Hey, AJ!" I screamed. She looked over here, and I made motion with my hand telling her to come here.

AJ started to make her way over here when someone tripped her and she fell ending up with her lunch all over her face. "Clutz," they said harshly. Then, their whole table started laughing. AJ wiped her face off and started to grit her teeth together. She looked pretty upset, but who wouldn't be? After picking up her crushed lunch off of the floor, she made her way over here.

"Just ignore them," Sam told her. "That's just Stevie and her cronies. They're just a bunch of snooty, rich, preppy infielders." Yeah, Stevie... I remember her. We both went to the same elementary school and middle school. She has long golden blond hair and bright blue eyes.

"Yeah, she's the big queen bee and captain of cheerleading squad. She's a big jerk," I said with a frown.

"Figures," AJ sighed. "Every school has one."

We all nodded in agreement.

* * *

In Meridian's prison, in a certain cell sits a man. A man who has been there for over 40 years. Just sitting there, planning his revenge. His revenge over a certain group of girls. A group of girls called the Guardians.

"Curse them," he mumbled. Then, he coughed a hacking cough. "Curse them all."

Suddenly, he heard footsteps coming from outside his cell.

"Dear, dear sister, come to see your older brother again?" he falsely cooed.

"Oh, I'm sorry. Were you expecting someone else?" said a gruff voice.

He quickly turned around and his eyes went wide at what he saw. All of the guards were dead! He looked around the circular prison. All of the prisoners were dead as well!

"Wh - who's there?" he said in shaky voice.

"A friend, Prince Phobos." Then, out of nowhere, a hooded figure appeared right in front of his cell. "A friend."

Phobos's eyes widened even more. "Where did you come from? Why are you here? What did you do to them?"

"The air guardian is not the only being that can use the power of invisibility," the hooded figure said. Phobos seethed with the mention of the air guardian. "And I am here to set you free. Oh, and the guards and prisoners are just asleep. They'll wake up soon, but by then it'll be too late. You'll be long gone."

"Why would you want to set me free?" Phobos asked suspiciously.

"My, my. Aren't we just full of questions?" the figure sighed. "Well, I guess I should answer... So let's just say that I'm setting you free because of the Guardians."

"The Guardians?" Phobos raised an eyebrow.

"Well, yeah. Isn't that what you want? Revenge on the Guardians? I mean look at you." When they said that, Phobos began to look at himself. "Old." True. Phobos was over 60 years old. "Defeated." True. He's been defeated more times than he could count thanks to the Guardians. "And powerless." And true again. He was as powerful as a rock. "So what do you say? Staying here and rotting? Or being free and having your sweet revenge?"

"So what's the catch?" Phobos asked still slightly suspicious.

"There's no catch. It's all free. Here have a taste of freedom." The figure waved their hand and the electric bars disappeared. They snapped their fingers and white lights began to cover Phobos, who started to panic. Seconds later, the white lights dispersed and Phobos was just left standing there. "Here, take a look." Suddenly, a mirror appeared in the hooded figure's hand. They handed it over to him. "So what do you think?"

Phobos's eyes widened for like the 3rd time in 10 minutes. He was shocked. He looked exactly like he did 40 years ago. His hair was once again long, blond, and perfect. Instead of wrinkles, his skin was smooth and soft. And his clothes were back to a long robe instead of rags. He was young and healthy again.

"H - How?" stuttered Phobos, who was still aweing at his transformation.

"Don't ask how, just know that it worked. Jeez. Anyway, I'll just give you some power and be on my way," said the mysterious figure. They pointed their finger at Phobos, said, "Zap!", and a white light beam came out of the figure's index finger and into Phobos. Several minutes later, the light beam stopped. "Well, have fun. See you later."

"Wait!" Phobos yelled. The figure paused. "What if I need to talk to you?"

"Then just call." And with that the figure disappeared.

"That was odd," Phobos stated. "Now let's check out these new powers... Hmmmmmmmmmm... To Earth!" He opened a blue spinning vortex by poking the air and then, jumped through screaming, "Watch out Guardians, here I come!"

* * *

Thanks for reading.


	2. Chapter 2

2

Disclaimer: I do NOT own W.I.T.C.H.

* * *

"Hey, look! It's the new girl," said Beth, Stevie's right hand girl.

"Yeah. I think her name is AJ. She's in my Biology class," Stevie stated.

"AJ, huh? What a loser! I mean seriously, where does she get her clothes? Walmart?" Beth laughed noticing AJ's beat up dark pink sweatshirt and black sweatpants.

Stevie laughed. "Hey, watch this." Stevie turned around in her seat and stuck her foot out into the middle of the walkway just as AJ walked by their table. AJ didn't see Stevie's leg as she tripped over it and did a face-plant on her own lunch. Stevie turned back to facing the table and said, "Clutz.", while flipping her long, silky golden blond hair. And their whole table burst into laughter.

"Nice one, Stevie," Beth giggled. "That was great."

"Why thank you," Stevie pretended to fake bow. "It was an honor."

"Where's she going now?" someone else at the table piped up.

"Looks like she's going to that table over there," Stevie noted. She squinted her eyes to try and see who AJ was sitting with, but then realized that she forgot to put her contacts in that morning.

Beth suddenly started to laugh. "Look at who's she's sitting with! It's Queen of the Dorks and your Royal Nerdness!"

Stevie looked at Beth totally clueless. She couldn't recall a "Queen of the Dorks" or a "Royal Nerdness". Beth stopped laughing. "Wait, you don't know who I'm talking about?" Stevie shook her head slowly. Beth rolled her eyes. "Duh! Who else would I be talking about? CeCe Ridgewood and Sam Diamond!"

"Aren't they in our Biology class?"

"Yeah, they are. What a bunch of losers."

_Ring! Ring ! Riiiiiinnnnnnnggggg!_

"Well, that's the bell. See you later, Beth and friends," Stevie said and then disappeared into the crowd of people.

* * *

"Finally, the day is over," Stevie sighed happily. She flipped her hair. It was after school, and her and Beth were on their way to the mall. The mall had an awesome Egyptian theme and was their favorite place to hang out.

"Yeah, I know right. I'm so happy we don't have Biology for a while. It's like sooooooo boring," Beth yawned. Stevie would never admit it, but she kind of liked Biology. Biology had always sort of fascinated her, especially the part about animals and plants. She didn't know why, but she's always felt a weird, special connection with nature. She shook her head. _Where did that thought come from_?

"Yeah, Biology is pretty boring, but Mrs. Vandom is nice," she said instead.

"Mrs. Vandom is pretty cool, huh? Anyways, guess what? Today the funniest thing happened with this nerd..." And as Beth droned about stuff, Stevie was inspecting a little spot of grass near the sidewalk. She sighed, and suddenly a small green flower poped up out of the ground in the little spot of grass she was just looking at. She stopped walking. Stevie rubbed her eyes and did a double take to make sure she wasn't just seeing things. She opened her eyes. It was still there! She walked over to it and bent down. She felt the flower. _Yeah, it feels like a flower alright, so that means that it's real. But how?_

"Whatcha looking at, Stevie?"

Stevie jumped 10 feet in the air. She then looked up and saw that Beth was right in front of her. "I was looking at this flower... By the way, was it here earlier?"

Beth gained a puzzled look on her face. "What was here earlier? The flower?"

"Yes, this green flower right here," Stevie said while pointing at the object in question.

Beth shrugged, "I don't know. I guess so."

"Okay. I thought it was. I just wasn't sure." Stevie frowned_. Maybe the flower was there before. It's could of been there the whole time. In fact, it probably was. I mean flowers don't just pop up out of nowhere, right? Unless it was magic, but there's only one problem with that hypothesis, magic isn't real. Magic is just some stupid kid stuff..._ Her eyes widened. _What, what if I was the one that made the flower appear? It did pop up right after I sighed. What if it's all connected? Oh, what the hay. That can't happen. That's impossible!_

"Why, hello ladies. Fancy meeting you here," purred a voice.

Stevie froze. She whipped around and glared. "What are you doing here, Randy," she said coldly.

"Me? Why I'm just walking around the park, same as you," Randy smiled evilly.

"Yeah, well, we're about leave, and you should too," Stevie narrowed her glare.

Randy snaked his arm around Stevie's waist. "Not until I get a hug from my lady."

"Well, too bad. I'm not your "lady" anymore. Remember I broke up with you 3 weeks ago," Stevie said annoyed while trying to pry Randy's tan arm off her waist.

"I remember," Randy said with a grim look on his face. "But that was just a temporary setback. I know you still like me, Stevie."

"No, I don't. So just go away," Stevie said when she finally got Randy's arm successfully off of her.

"Fine, you win, but I'll be back, and when I am, we WILL be back together again. Got that, Stevie? I know where you live," Randy said darkly and then, left.

"Whoa, what a creep. I mean seriously, 'I know where you live.'" Beth mimicked. "Isn't that just plain creepy?"

"Yeah, it is." Stevie thought for a moment. _That line... 'I know where you live.' Does that mean Randy knows where I live or was he just bluffing... Because if he knows where I live, then, that means that he knows my secret! And if he told everyone, I would be ruined!_ "You know what, Beth? I don't really feel like the mall right now... How about tomorrow? Is that okay with you?"

Beth saddened for a moment, but then returned back to normal up again. "Sure, I guess... If that's what you want..."

"Thanks for understanding Beth. I don't feel like going to the mall after what just happened with Randy." _And the flower._

"Yeah, I understand. Randy's a jerk." Beth then started walking. Suddenly, she stopped as if she were thinking of something important. She quickly turned around and asked, "Hey, Stevie. Are you going to the Halloween party this Friday?"

Stevie smiled. "Oh, you mean the Sheffield Institute Halloween party, right? Then, yeah I'll be there. Are you going?"

"I am now."

"Okay, great! See you at school tomorrow, Beth."

"Okay. Bye , Stevie." Beth waved and then headed for her glorious mansion near Shell Beach, while Stevie headed home, too.

* * *

Phobos smiled. He was outside a certain restaurant glamored as a newspaper reporter. He ran his hand through his now short rusty brown hair and thought about how this came to be...

(Flashback)

Phobos fell out of the portal into a pile of trash. He sat up and looked at his surroundings of toilet seats, plastic bags, rotting food, and lots of other junk. He made a disgusted face and said, "Ugh, gross peasants." He wiped off his beat up clothes and thought for a moment. _In these clothes, I'll stick out like a sore thumb. Maybe I should change them. And while I'm at it, I might as well change my entire look. When the Guardians find out I'm gone, they'll come looking for me, so it would be the best to change my appearance, too. Hmmmmmmmm..._ He snapped his fingers and walked over a few feet to a big mirror that someone had thrown away. He then looked at himself and smiled. His hair had turned to a rusty brown color, his eyes to a light caramel color, and his skin to a more pale color. He was wearing brown slacks, a white t-shirt, a brown professional looking jacket, and a brown pressman cap. He looked like a classic news reporter. It was perfect.

"Hey, you!"

Phobos swiftly turned around and saw that it was a man in overalls. "Yes?"

"What are you doing here? This is my trash dump."

"You own this place?" Phobos questioned.

The man started to mumble. "Well, no. Technically, the city of Heatherfield owns this dump, but I'm in charge here, so what are you doing here?"

"Me? Oh, I'm new here, and I got lost looking for a restaurant... Can you help me?"

"Maybe. What's the restuarant called?"

"The Silver Dragon," Phobos replied with a grin.

(End of Flasback)

And now Phobos was standing outside of the peaceful restaurant. He figured that if he was going to defeat the Guardians, he needed to find out what they have been doing for the last 40 years. He needed to know the enemy. So he decided to first check up on Hay Lin who was hopefully still at the Silver Dragon. Phobos recalled Cedric telling him about how Hay Lin's family owned a restuarant.

When Phobos first stepped into the restaurant, the smell of the chicken hit him, and he hated to admit it, but it smelled good. He walked over to an empty booth in the corner, and eventually, a waitress came over to the table with a pencil and paper in hand. Her hair was mainly gray with a few black strands here and there. Her almond shaped eyes were dark brown, and she looked pretty old.

"Hello, sir. Welcome to the Silver Dragon. I'm Mrs. Lin, and I will be your waiter today. Is there anything I can get you?" she smiled. _So this is the mother of that blasted air guardian. Maybe I should attack her now, but that would cause commotion, and it could alert the Guardians to my presence. Besides, I'm only here for info._

Phobos smiled. "Yes, actually there is. I'm a news reporter, and I was wondering if I could interview Hay Lin. Is she by any chance here?"

Mrs. Lin dropped her pencil and paper and turned as white as a sheet. It looked like she was about to burst into tears at any moment. "Excuse me," she whispered and ran all the way to the kitchen.

Minutes later, an angry man with gray hair came out of the kitchen. He walked over to Phobos and slammed his fist onto the table. "What did you say to my wife?! She's crying like there's no tomorrow, and I want to know why!" he yelled. By this time of night, all of the other customers were gone, except for Phobos.

"Your wife didn't tell you?" he calmly asked.

"No! She didn't! She was crying too hard to tell me. What did you do?"

"All I did was say that I was a news reporter and that I wanted to interview Hay Lin."

Mr. Lin suddenly turned as pale as chalk. "Oh."

"So do you know where I can find her?" Phobos watched as a single tear ran down Mr. Lin's cheek.

"Hay Lin is dead."

* * *

Thanks for reading.


	3. Chapter 3

3

Disclaimer: I do NOT own W.I.T.C.H.

* * *

"Hay Lin is dead?" Phobos questioned as a fake news reporter.

"Yes, she is. It happened about 14 years ago. She went over to China for a business trip and died in a car accident," Hay Lin's father recalled. Hot tears were running down his cheeks at this point.

"I'm sorry for your loss," Phobos said with fake sympathy, while trying to hide a grin.

"Thank you," Mr. Lin whispered. "Now, what would you like to eat?"

"Actually, I'm not that hungry right now." Phobos got up from his seat and held his hand out. "Thank you for your time, Mr. Lin." Mr. Lin then shook Phobos's hand, totally unaware that this was one of his daughter's greatest enemies.

"Goodbye," Phobos said. He waved his hand and left. When he got outside the restaurant, he started walking. _Too bad Hay Lin is already dead... I wanted to do it myself... Oh well, like they say. Don't look a gift horse in the mouth. That's 1 down and 4 to go._

* * *

Kara hated running. Right now, she was running the mile, and she dreaded every moment of it. She sort wished she could run like her best friend Rush. Rush, of course, wasn't her real name, but people called her Rush because of how fast she could run. In fact, she was the probably fastest runner at Sheffield Institute. She was just that fast. Kara started to slow down to a walk.

_ Whoosh! _

The wind blew her short dark brown hair into her face, and then, she moved it out of the way. She looked up and saw Rush sprint past her to finish her last lap, while Kara was still on lap 1/3.

_ Whoosh! _

The wind blew Kara's hair into her face again.

"Seriously?!" she said agitated, while moving her hair out of her face. She looked up, and her mouth dropped open in shock. It was AJ! She was sprinting what looked like her last lap, too! _Whoa! She's pretty fast! I wonder if she would be able to beat Rush... Hmmmmm... _

"Green! Get moving!" yelled the gym teacher. It was then that she realized that she had been standing there for the last minute. "Green! It's not nap time! Get going!" And that's when she started run again. _I wonder why the gym teacher calls everyone by their last name. It's so weird. _

After about 2 and a half laps of mostly walking, Kara was finished. She looked around and saw that everyone else was done.

"26:31," the gym teacher yelled. Kara's face got red in embarrassment after hearing that. _26 minutes and 31 seconds!? Man, I've got to be the worst runner ever! _She started to slouch until she spotted Rush. She perked up and decided to go talk to her. She started to make her way over there until a voice made her freeze in her tracks.

"Whoa, did you see Kara? What a slowpoke!" someone commented.

"Yeah I know right. I mean 26 minutes and 31 seconds? That's got to be the slowest time ever recorded for the mile!" someone else joined in.

"Kara's such a fatty!" someone else said. That voice... It sounds so familiar. It sounds like it belonged... Rush! A tear ran down Kara's face. _Rush thinks I'm fat? _She looked down at herself._ I'll admit it. I'm not the skinniest person around, but am I really that fat?_

"Rush, why do you even hang out with her?"

"Well, duh! To hurt that CeCe girl. I figured stealing her best friend would crush her, and it did." _What!? Rush only became my best friend to hurt CeCe!?_ Several hot tears ran down her cheeks. _And it worked too. I practically ditched CeCe for Rush. I barely even talk to CeCe anymore. _

"CeCe Ridgewood? What did she ever do to you?"

"Yeah, CeCe Ridgewood. And are you kidding? She ruined my happiness!"

"How?"

"She -," began Rush, but by that point Kara was gone. She shoved her way past people, and when she was out of the crowd of people, she ran. She ran all the way through the gym and into the girls' bathroom. She ran inside the first stall, shut the door, and cried her heart out. _I'm so stupid! How could I not know? Rush has always showed some negativeness towards CeCe. _She started to remember all the times Rush has said something bad about CeCe. There was the time Rush made a comment about how clumsy CeCe was. There was another time Kara caught Rush cussing about CeCe in the girls' bathroom, and the other time when she heard Rush mumble about hating CeCe. Also, just yesterday, Rush was telling Kara about how dumb CeCe was in Biology that day. The list just kept getting longer, and Kara was totally oblivious to it. _I can't believe I let her use me as a pawn to hurt CeCe. She shook with sobs. I've got to be the worst friend ever! I let CeCe down! How could I? Maybe the world would be better off without me..._

Suddenly, Kara heard the bathroom door open, and someone walking towards the stall area. She raised her feet up, so they couldn't be seen on the other side of the stall door, and held her breath. Oh, crud. Please don't be Rush.

As the person walked by, she looked under the stall door and could see their white tennis shoes. Then, the person stopped right in front of her stall. It seemed like time had stopped and that the bathroom was holding its breath. It was so quiet that you could hear a pin drop on the floor. The suspension was huge.

"Kara, I know you're in there. What's wrong?" said the person outside her stall gently. _That doesn't sound like Rush…_ Kara didn't answer. "Kara, it's me AJ. Something's obviously upsetting you. Tell me what it is. Maybe I can help," AJ said.

_ AJ? Why would she care about me? I mean I don't talk to her at all. _"Just go away," Kara whispered.

"But-"

Kara cut her off. "Please, just go away," she said a little louder.

"Okay, okay. I'll go, but just remember that you have a friend." Then, the white tennis shoes from outside the stall door started to walk away. Suddenly, the shoes stopped. "Oh, and by the way, that friend is me," AJ added in, and afterwards, left the bathroom. Kara smiled. She suddenly felt better. _AJ is pretty cool. She's nice, caring, and amazing. _Kara wiped her tears away, opened the stall door, washed her hands with soap for roughly 2 minutes, and then, promptly left the bathroom.

_ I'm going to make things right. With CeCe and everyone else._ Kara laughed. _Thanks AJ._

But, what Kara didn't see was that back in the bathroom, the water in the sink started to float and converge into one giant water ball before gravity pulled it to the ground.

* * *

Will was having a dandy time. She was splitting up her Biology class into groups. It was amazing. Well, as amazing groups were, which was pretty amazing, and she should know. She was part of the best group in the world.

"The next group is CeCe, AJ, Kara, Sam, and Stevie," Will said loudly. Then, there was some groaning and shuffling. "And the final group is Rush, Beth, Adam, Randy, and Melissa." There was some more moaning and eventually the rest of the students moved to their designated groups, too. Soon enough, some of the students started to complain about who was in their group and who they wanted in their group. Eventually, Will just had enough of the complaining and whining so she said, "Okay, everybody settle down please and stop complaining about your groups because they're not going to change and you're stuck in them for the rest of the year, so you better get used to them." The class quieted down. "Thank you, class. Now it's time for -"

But suddenly, Will got cut off by the violent shaking of one of the drawers in her desk.

"Wh - What is that, Mrs. Vandom?" CeCe stuttered a little. The whole class started to mumble and nod in agreement.

"Yeah! What is that?" one person yelled.

"What's wrong with the drawer?" another person asked. The class started to talk louder to each other.

Will waved her arms for everyone to calm down. "Quiet down, everyone," Will said. "It's just my phone vibrating really loudly in there. Go ahead and do workbook pages 16 - 20 in your groups, while I deal with this." The class groaned, but eventually opened their workbooks and started on their homework. Will smiled. _Now let's go see what's in that drawer._ She walked over to her desk and pulled on the mysterious drawer. It was locked! She pulled out her keys and opened up the drawer. She stared at what was inside of it_. So that's where that was... Thank gosh I didn't lose it._ For sitting inside the drawer was none other than the Heart of Kandrakar. And it was glowing and vibrating. Will picked it up and looked inside of it. She gasped. _This isn't possible! It can't be! There's no way! Oh, crud._ She hurriedly shoved the Heart of Kandrakar into her pocket. She grabbed her purse and phone and was out the door faster than a baby cheetah. On the way to her car, she stopped at Principal Knickerbocker's office (who was still the principal of Sheffield Institute after 40 years). She stuck her head inside the doorway and said, "Bye, Mrs. Knickerbocker. I'm taking an emergency leave, and I need a substitute fast for my class. Tell them to have the kids just do the workbook assignment in their groups. Okay? Thanks! Bye!"

Will hurriedly pulled her head inside the doorway and was about to run to her car until Mrs. Knickerbocker stopped her. "Hold up, Mrs. Vandom. Why are you taking an emergency leave?" Mrs. Knickerbocker asked seriously.

"My cousin is in the hospital," Will simply lied, and then, dashed to her car with her phone in hand, typing a certain number in, leaving behind a very shocked and confused principal. "Matt, call the girls and tell them to meet at our house," Will said determined.

"Why? What's happening, Will?" a confused Matt questioned.

"Phonos is back," Will said seriously. Then, she hung up her phone, got in her car, and drove towards her house.

* * *

When Will had finally arrived to her house, everybody was already there. Irma, Corny, Caleb, Taranee, Nigel, and Matt. Irma was sprawled out in the armchair while Matt was pacing back and forth. Cornelia or "Corny" and her husband, Caleb, were sitting on the big tan couch along with Taranee and her husband, Nigel, who already knows about the whole Guardian thing. Right before they got married, Taranee told Nigel about the whole Guardian thing, and Nigel accepted it just fine and even told her that it didn't change the fact that he loves her. Now, Nigel likes to help whenever they have Guardian business.

Will quickly gave Matt a peck on the cheek, and after that, got down to business. "As Matt had probably told you, Phobos is back."

"Great, the old Prince of Psychos is back," Irma sarcastically said.

"Not now Irma," Cornelia frowned. "We don't have time for that. Not with Phobos on loose."

"There's always time for jokes and sarcasm." Irma smiled evilly. "Right, Corny?"

"Don't call me Corny!" Cornelia yelled. Everyone rolled their eyes.

"Guys, stop it!" Will said with authority. Cornelia and Irma got quiet. "Even after 40 years, you guys are still fighting like little kids," Will mumbled.

"Hey!" Irma and Cornelia screamed at the same time while glaring at Will.

"Guys, focus!" Taranee said annoyed. "We should probably head to Meridian to check and see if Phobos is really free or not."

"That sounds like a great idea, honey," Nigel commented. He wrapped his arm around Taranee. "Maybe he's been in his cell the whole time, and the Heart made a mistake."

Caleb frowned. "The Heart of Kandrakar does NOT make mistakes."

"Sorry, man. I'm just coming up with ideas here," Nigel said, raising his hands up in surrender.

"Okay, so now to Meridian?" Matt asked.

Will smiled. "To Meridian."

* * *

Thanks for reading.


	4. Chapter 4

4

Disclaimer: I do NOT own W.I.T.C.H.

* * *

AJ was furious! She was peeved off! She couldn't believe it! How could someone do that! And to a best friend no less! Right now, AJ was sitting in Biology class just fuming. She was cussing in her head, and was clenching the table so hard that her knuckles were turning white. Then, she started to think back on what had happened earlier that day.

(Flashback)

AJ was feeling great. She had just finished the mile at a personal record time of 5 minutes and 48 seconds. It was amazing, but unfortunately that meant that she would have to wait for everyone else to get down, which could take a while, and since she didn't really know anybody in that class, it was going to be a long boring time.

Whoosh!

The wind blew at AJ's light brown curly ponytail, and she looked up just in time to see Rush rush right past her. She raised up an eyebrow. _Rush is pretty fast. I'm guessing that's how she got her name._

After about 21 minutes of really boring waiting, the last runner finally finished the mile. "26:31!" the gym teacher yelled. _Yes, we're done!_ AJ jumped up from where she was sitting on the curb. She stretched her arms over her head and popped her back. Then, AJ started to stroll over to the gym doors until she heard a mean wicked laugh.

"Whoa, did you see Kara? What a slowpoke!" some person AJ didn't recognize, commented. AJ stopped, hid behind some person, and listened.

"Yeah, I know right. I mean 26 minutes and 31 minutes? That's got to be the slowest time ever recorded for the mile ever!" someone else, AJ didn't know, said nastily.

"Kara's such a fatty!" someone laughed. AJ looked a little closer and gasped in shock. It was Rush! She clenched her fists in anger. _What the flip!_ She knew that Rush and Kara were best friends because she saw them walking and talking together like only best friends could do. Her eyes narrowed. _What is Rush doing talking about Kara like that? Kara, her best friend? What was wrong for her? _There was nothing that got under her skin more than best friends talking about each other badly behind their backs.

"Rush, why do you even hang out with her?"

"Well, duh! To hurt that CeCe girl. I figured stealing her best friend would crush her, and it did." AJ's mouth fell open in shock. _What!? Rush only became friends with Kara to hurt CeCe! Wait, CeCe Ridgewood? _

It was like one of the people in the group was reading her mind. "CeCe Ridgewood? What did she ever do to you?" _Yeah, what did CeCe ever do to you? You, you witch._

"Yeah, CeCe Ridgewood. And are you kidding? She ruined my happiness!" _What!?_ AJ was shocked. Even though she had only met CeCe yesterday, she picked up the vibe that CeCe wasn't the type of person to ruin people's happiness, but she also knew that looks could be deceiving.

"How?"

"She destroyed it! She destroyed my relationship! She drove him away! The boy I loved!" Rush screamed so loudly that some of the surrounding people turned and looked at Rush funny. She turned around and gave them all dirty looks. "Nothing to see here, people. Just mind your own business." The onlooking people just shrugged and went back to talking to friends or whatever they were doing.

_So that's why Rush hates CeCe! CeCe ruined Rush's relationship with her love! Hmmmmm... I'll need to ask her about that, later... _AJ was about to leave and go somewhere else because it sounded like the conversation was over when…

"Oh, okay... Wait, why Kara? Why not Sam? CeCe and Sam are best friends, too." _Good point._

Rush laughed. "That one's easy. It's because Kara was the easiest one to trick."

AJ clenched her fists together. _What a b-. _But before AJ could finish that thought, something caught her eye. She looked closer and saw that it was a girl running towards the gym. She was wearing a pair of turquoise shorts, a dark blue t-shirt, and a pair of blue tennis shoes, and her short dark brown hair was sort of flying in the wind. It looked like her face was red, but AJ wasn't sure, so she looked even closer. _Yep, definitely red, alright... Wait, is she crying?_ Then, it hit her. The bob styled dark brown hair, the blue clothing, and the possibly coincidental crying right after Rush had said all of those nasty things? That girl running was Kara! And she's crying!

Unfortunately, it took AJ a while to process what had happened, so by the time AJ snapped out of it, Kara was already inside the school. Suddenly, AJ sprinted over to the gym. She ran inside nervously and panicked a little. _Kara could be anywhere in this entire school!_ She smacked her forehead_. Of course! It was such an obvious answer! Where do girls go to cry at school? The girls' bathroom! Well, most of the time anyway, and it's my best shot, so I should look in there just in case. _

AJ ran outside of the gym and looked around for the nearest girl's bathroom. When she spotted one, she made a mad dash for it, but stopped right in front of the door. _I don't want to rush in there a like an angry bull or accidentally hit her with the door if she's behind it._ AJ took a big breath and gently pushed the door open. She quickly looked behind the door, but didn't see her, so she continued on to the stall area. As she walked over to the stalls, she listened really carefully and heard the soft sound of shuffling in the first stall.

AJ stopped in front of the first stall and said gently, "Kara, I know you're in there. What's wrong?" Kara didn't answer. AJ sighed. "Kara, it's me AJ. Something's obviously upsetting you. Tell me what it is. Maybe I can help."

"Just go away," Kara whispered really quietly.

_Maybe I should tell her about what I heard from Rush and her friends._ "But-"

Kara cut her off. "Please, just go away," she said a little louder this time.

AJ decided not to push Kara. Kara would hopefully tell her in her own time. "Okay, okay. I'll go, but just remember that you have a friend." AJ started to walk towards the bathroom door. _I hope Kara will be okay. _Then, she stopped. _What if she doesn't know that the friend I mentioned is me?_ "Oh, and by the way, that friend is me." AJ smiled, and afterwards, left the bathroom.

(End of Flashback)

"Earth to AJ. Come in AJ. Come in," a voice said happily.

AJ focused her eyes to see Kara in front of her, waving her arms in front of AJ's face. "Huh?" AJ asked still a little out of it.

"You were like spaced out for the past 45 minutes, just staring at that wall over there," CeCe replied, while pointing over to the wall to AJ's left.

"Yeah, I'm surprised Mrs. Vandom didn't notice you spacing out," Sam mentioned.

Then, AJ saw it. Sam, CeCe, and Kara were surrounding her desk, when they were supposed to be in their own assigned seats. "Why are you guys over here? Aren't you guys supposed to be in your assigned seats? Not that I don't want you over here or anything, it's just that, I don't want you to get in trouble."

"Nope. While you were in LaLa Land, Mrs. Vandom put us in groups, and then, her drawer vibrated really loudly like a hyper massage chair. She opened it and dashed out of the class as pale as a ghost. Oh, by the way, our group is you, me, CeCe, and Sam," Kara said quickly, pointing to each corresponding person.

"Hey, what about me?" a very annoyed voice said.

"What about you, Steve?" Sam said narrowing her eyes.

"Well, I'm in the group, too, you know," Stevie said. "And it's Stevie, not Steve, nerd."

"Why you little," Sam started. It looked like she was about to jump out of her seat and drop kick Stevie, but luckily, CeCe was there to hold her back. _Whoa, what was that!? _AJ could've sworn that she just saw some kind of fire flash in Sam's eyes. AJ shook her head. _That's impossible. Besides I'm still sort of out of it. It was probably just my imagination._

"Calm down, Sam," CeCe said quietly. "Don't let Stevie get to you."

"Yeah, don't let glamorous and beautiful me make fun of you. You do that all by yourself." Stevie smirked.

Before Sam could rip Stevie's head off, AJ piped up. "So we're all in a group?"

"Yeah, and we're supposed to be doing workbook pages together," Kara stated.

AJ looked at her watch. "Okay, and we have about 2 minutes to do them. Maybe we should just meet up at someone's house instead."

"You guys can come over to my place," CeCe mentioned, while still trying her best to hold Sam back.

"Sounds like a plan. Is that okay with everyone?" Everybody nodded, including Stevie, surprisingly. "Great! So we'll all meet up after school and walk home with CeCe."

* * *

AJ's POV

"So this is your house?" I questioned. It was after school, our group had just arrived at CeCe's house. The house was pretty nice. It was a 2-story tan colored house with a big white porch. It had a 2 car garage and a cement driveway with a basketball hoop. The yard was green and lush, and it had a couple of trees in the front and the lived in a suburban area, so the other houses were reasonably close, but not so much that they were on top of each other.

CeCe smiled "Yeah, it is... So do you want to go inside?" We all nodded. We all walked onto the porch, and CeCe unlocked the door. When she did, something gray and white dashed outside. It was a dog! It's back and ears were dark gray, while its belly, legs, and paws were white. It's tail was mostly gray with a little bit of white in it. It's face was mostly white, except for around its eyes. Around its eyes we're large dark gray circles. And its eyes. Man, they were a cool icy blue. It was beautiful. "That's Topaz. Isn't she just the cutest puppy ever?" CeCe said in a baby voice. "She's 2 years old and is a Siberian Husky."

"Topaz... Is that because of her eyes?" I asked curiously.

"Yup, her eyes are like blue topaz. Plus, she was born in December so yeah... Well, let's go on in." CeCe said and walked inside of the house.

Forget what I said about the outside of house, the inside of it is where it all is. The house had an open floor plan. To the immediate left was a typical staircase heading upstairs. Next to the stairs was a doorway. To the right was what looked like a living room complete with a big white couch, a fireplace, a flatscreen TV, and 2 blue armchairs. Next to the living room was an enormous kitchen with an island in the middle of it with some barstools. There was also a door in the kitchen that I'm guessing leads to the garage. To the left of the kitchen, was the dining room. It had a fancy table with 6 chairs surrounding it.

"Mom! Dad! I'm home!" CeCe yelled. "With my science group!"

"Hi, honey!" a high pitch voice screamed. Seconds later, a woman came down the stairs, followed by a man . The woman had long curly pale blond hair and cat green eyes, while the man had short dirty blond hair and light sky blue eyes. They both had very fair skin.

"Hey, Mom. Hey, Dad," CeCe happily said. "We're going to go upstairs and work on our homework. Okay?" Wait. These were CeCe's parents? I was confused. I mean not to be judgmental or mean or anything, but CeCe looked nothing like her parents. CeCe had black hair, while her parents had blond hair. CeCe had dark brown eyes, while her parents either had green or blue eyes, and CeCe had a tan olive skin tone, while her parents had fair skin. I looked over at the other girls, and it looked like Stevie was just as confused as I was. We both looked over to Sam, and it looked like she was giving us a "Don't Ask" look. I guess we looked pretty confused because she then mouthed, "I'll tell you later." Kara, on the other hand, looked totally oblivious to the silent conversation.

"Okay, pumpkin. Oh, and I'll bring some snacks for you girls later on," Mrs. Ridgewood replied.

After that, we ran up the stairs. Kara was giggling the whole way up. "Your parents still call you that?" she laughed.

"Yeah, they do," CeCe responded proudly. We all snickered a little at that.

The first thing I noticed when I entered CeCe's room was purple. Purple was everywhere. The walls were light purple. The bed sheets and blankets were various shades of purple. Even, the closet doors were dark purple!

"Whoa, lots of purple..." Stevie mumbled.

"Yeah, it's very, uh, purple," I said nervously.

"Yup, just the way I like it." CeCe smiled.

"Is purple your favorite color?" I asked CeCe.

"Yeah! What gave it away?"

"Maybe everything in this room," Stevie mumbled.

"Anyways, who's up for some homework?" Sam questioned with her hands clasped together excitedly.

All of us groaned except for Sam, who loved homework. We all sprawled out on the floor and got our Biology workbooks out.

"So let's start with question 1..."

* * *

"Elyon!" Cornelia cried out happily. She hadn't seen her best friend in what seemed like forever, so she was super excited to see her now. They had just jumped through a fold into the middle of the Meridian castle throne room in the middle of what looked like another Hoogong breeding ground debate.

"The red Hoogongs can't -"

But he was interrupted by a very happy Cornelia. "Elyon!" She then, ran over to the surprised queen and gave her a hug.

"Cornelia! I haven't seen you in forever!" Elyon exclaimed, while dismissing the court from the throne room, so she could talk to her friends privately.

"Hey, Elyon," Will, Irma, Taranee, Matt, and Nigel waved.

"Your Majesty," Caleb said, happy to see the queen of his world.

"Hey, guys," she said going over to give them all hugs, too. "What's up?"

"Well, we have a question..." Taranee started. "Is Phobos still in his cell?"

A puzzled look came across the queen's face. "What?"

"Phobis is still in his cell, right?" Will asked worriedly.

"I - I think so," Elyon said unsure. "Here let me go check." Suddenly, she disappeared in a flash of bright light, while everyone waited patiently. Minutes later, Elyon flashed back in, but this time it looked like she had seen a ghost. She was so pale.

"Elyon, what's wrong?" Cornelia questioned, worried about her best friend.

"It's - It's Phobos! He's gone! And all of the prisoners and guards are unconscious!" Elyon screamed. She was sweating and looked like she was in panic mode.

"Grandma, are you okay?" a high pitched concerned voice asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine, Emily," Elyon reassured her only granddaughter.

"Are you sure Grandma?" Emily questioned with worry. She walked into at the throne room and looked surprised to see all of those people there. "Uh, did I interrupt something? I think I'll just leave now." She then started towards the exit.

Irma sighed. "I remember when half pint was like 3 feet tall. Now, she's what? 15 years old?"

"Yup, that's right Irma. 15 years old. Man, they grow up so fast." Elyon smiled remembering all of those memories with her. Going out to play in the castle garden. Shopping around the marketplace in the village. Eating icecream on a hot summer day. Elyon sighed. Now, those memories had past, and she had to deal with her evil brother, Phobos.

"Well, let's go investigate the prison for clues," Caleb said.

"Wait, honey. We have to armor up first. Will, if you please," Cornelia nodded her head towards Will.

"My pleasure, Corny," Will responded. With the mention of her nickname, Cornelia frowned. "Guardians unite!"

And 5 different magical balls of light encased each of them and transformed them into their Guardian forms. It was like a cross between a fireworks show, a light show, and a concert. Caleb, Elyon, Matt, and Nigel stared at the transformation in awe. It was just so awesome.

"Quintessence!" Will yelled confidently.

"Water!" Irma said with a smirk.

"Fire!" Taranee screamed with determination.

"Earth!" Cornelia said coolly.

Then, they came down with sad looks on their faces. That was the first time they had transformed since Hay Lin had died, and it didn't feel right. It felt like a piece of them was missing, which there basically was.

"So uh, Matt, are you going to transform?" Nigel asked, trying to break the awkward silence that had developed.

"Oh, yeah. Thanks Nigel," Matt replied and after that, transformed into his Shagon form with big black wings, giant lizard tail, and gold mask.

"Soooooo... Let's go," Caleb suggested while leading the way to the Meridian prison.

"Yeah, let's go," Will said sadly. Slowly one tear made its way down to Will's chin and dropped onto the hard, cold stone of the Meridian throne room.

* * *

A/N: Thanks for reading! And thanks to Wynn-J and Featherleaf for reviews! :)


	5. Chapter 5

5

Disclaimer: I do NOT own W.I.T.C.H.

* * *

"So this is it, huh?" Irma asked, while very lightly kicking a guard she didn't know. "Wake up, Sleeping Beauty."

"Irma!" Cornelia yelled.

"What?" Irma questioned.

The gang had just arrived at the Meridian prison to find everything exactly like Elyon had described it to be. All of the guards and prisoners looked like they were asleep, and all of the cells were occupied and closed except for one.

"Guys, look!" Will exclaimed, pointing over to the open cell. Everyone looked and gasped. They were shocked. Even though they knew that Phobos was free, it was still shocking to actually see his cell wide open and empty.

Irma was to first to compose herself. "So what? Big deal. Phobos is free. We'll put him back in his cell. He's as easy to defeat as a piece of lettuce."

"Really? Did you just compare a psychopath evil prince to a piece of lettuce?" Cornelia sarcastically said.

"Yeah, that's what I just said, Corny. Try to keep up, will ya?" Irma replied, not noticing the sarcasm in Cornelia's voice.

"Hey! How many times do I have to tell you? It's Corny! Irmy!"

Irma stuck her tongue out in response.

Cornelia opened her mouth to make a retort to Irma when Nigel interrupted her. "Okay, so what's the plan stan?"

"Well, first, we should probably check to make sure that all of the prisoners and guards are just uncosious, not... Dead," Taranee answered. "Will, if you would please."

"My pleasure, T," Will said, while closing her eyes. Minutes later, she opened her eyes, looking sort of wiped out and reported, "It took a lot more energy than it used to, but it's all clear. All of the guards and prisoners are alive."

Everyone sighed in relief from the news. Even though all of the prisoners were evil, that didn't mean that they wanted them to die necessarily.

Suddenly, Matt gained a puzzled look on his face. "Wait, what did you just do, honey?"

Will smiled. She loved to talk about Biology. "Well, you know how our bodies run on electricity, right?" Will paused. She glanced over at everybody and guessed that most of them didn't know that because of all of the confused looks she was getting. "Well, you see, our bodies run on electricity. They need it to work our brains, make our hearts beat, pump blood through our bodies, and etc. Without electricity in our bodies, we probably wouldn't even be standing here talking about it right now because we would be... Errrrrrrrr... Dead... Okay, so the point is that I'm using my power over quintessence or energy to compare our energy levels to the energy levels of the prisoners and guards. If there is a major difference between ours and theirs, then, that means that they're either probably really sick or dead."

"Okay, so what does electricity in the body have to do with anything?" Nigel inquired.

"Electricity is a type of energy. It -"

"Okay, stop!" Irma interrupted, while rubbing her temples. "I think that's enough science for me for today. Or for forever."

"Guys," Elyon said, closing her eyes.

"Yeah?" Everyone asked, turning to face Elyon.

"Elyon opened her eyes. "Is it okay if I leave for a while? Emily is calling for me."

Then, everyone nodded and gave her understanding smiles. They knew that Emily is really important to her, especially since Emily's mom (Elyon's only daughter) died. Now Emily is the only blood family Elyon has and vice versa. Elyon's parents died shortly after Elyon turned 50.

Suddenly, the prison filled with a bright white light, and when it dimmed down some, they saw that Elyon was gone. She had teletransported to the castle.

Then, a long silence ensued until Caleb broke it. He was pacing back and forth the prison, thinking. "So we should probably start waking up -" Caleb's face paled and he lifted one of his fingers towards one of the darker corners of the prison. "Aldarn!" Afterwards, he sprinted as fast as he could to his best friend.

Everyone looked at each other bolted over to Caleb.

"Caleb," Cornelia started. Caleb was shaking a little.

"Aldarn, wake up," Caleb said softly, shaking Aldarn a little. Aldarn didn't move. "Aldarn, please wake up," Caleb said a little louder, shaking him a little harder. No response. "Aldarn! Wake up!" Caleb screamed, shaking him violently.

That's when Cornelia stepped in. "Caleb, calm down. Aldarn is NOT dead. He's just unconscious. He's going to be okay."

"Yeah, Corny's right," Will agreed, putting a hand on his shoulder. Cornelia glared at Will a little when she said Corny. "Aldarn will be just fine. He's still alive."

Caleb stood up, shaking off Will's hand. "I know," he said sadly. "But it's still hard to see a childhood best friend in this condition. It - It just sucks. Phobos sucks. The evil that did this sucks. Everything just sucks." Caleb looked up and smiled a little. "Well, almost everything." He looked at Cornelia and the rest of the gang. "You guys don't suck. You guys are great. You're always there for me and it means a lot to me. You guys mean a lot to me, especially you, Cornelia." Everyone was wearing big smiles, and Cornelia was blushing like crazy. She, then, went over to Caleb and gave him a big hug.

"Awwwwwww..." Irma sighed. Suddenly, a huge goofy smile came across her face, and she screamed, "Group hug!" Afterwards, she raced over to Cornelia and Caleb and jumped into their open arms. Soon enough, everyone else joined into the giant hug, too. They all laughed.

"Awwwwww... What a perfect happy moment. Too bad I've got to ruin it," said a evil voice.

Everyone suddenly broke apart and looked around for the source of the voice. When they saw whose voice came from the entrance of the prison, they all got into fighting stances. Matt had his hand up, ready to shoot eye beams at them. Cornelia had a couple of big rocks coming up from the floor, ready to throw, while Irma had giant water balls ready to fling at the nearest villain. Will's hands were covered in lightning, and Caleb and Nigel had their broadswords drawn out ready to fight. Caleb had taught Nigel how to fight when he found out the girls' secret, so he could fight if he ever got put into a fighting situation.

"Phobos!" Will snarled, and then, they attacked.

* * *

Even before she almost burned all of her fingers off, Sam was having a lousy day. She was eating dinner with her parents and her older sister, Alex. Sure, most people would find this normal, but to Sam, dinner was just Alex time. As in how Alex was a lot better than she was.

And no matter how hard Sam tried, Alex was always better than her. If Sam got a G.P.A. of 4.25, Alex would get a G.P.A. of 4.30. If Sam won 5 awards at school, Alex would win 7 awards at school. If Sam took 4 honors classes, Alex would take 6. Even if Sam wore a pair of jeans, Alex could wear the same pair of jeans and just look better. It was totally ridiculous! And their parents gave Alex more attention for it.

"Don't slouch, dear. Sit up," Sam's mother said, digging Sam out of her thoughts.

"Okay," Sam said. Suddenly, her eyes lit up. "Hey, Mom! Dad! Guess what? I got an A on my math test today!"

"And I got an A+ on my advanced Calculus test," Alex smirked. _Of course she did. Why do I even try? _

_You try because you know you can do it_, a positive voice in her head said.

_Do what exactly?_

_Get your parents to be proud of you for once and for them to give you some attention_, the positive voice said again. _It is possible._

I sighed. _I know._

"So how has your day been, Alex?" Mrs. Diamond asked, taking a sip of her drink.

"Great, Mom. Today, I got an A+ on my advanced Calculus test, helped 4 nice pets to find new awesome homes (Alex volunteers at an animal shelter), and finished the plans for the Halloween party at Sheffield tomorrow."

"Awesome, Alex. And how about you Sam? What did you accomplish today?" Mr. Diamond questioned.

"W - Well, I - I," Sam stuttered. "I went over to CeCe's today to work on science homework with our science group."

"And that's it?"

"Yeah, that's basically it. Well, I did get an A on my math test, like I said earlier," Sam said, eating the rest of her salad.

"That's good," Mrs. Diamond replied. Then, she turned towards Alex. "Now, Alex, what about this Halloween party? What are you planning for it?"

Alex smiled. She loved talking about her plans. "Well, let's see, where to begin?" she said, rubbing her chin. Seconds later, she snapped and her expression brightened. It was like a light bulb had gone off in her head. "Okay, so we're planning to have the giant traditional jack o'lantern right smack dab in the middle of the front courtyard for all to see, while all of the drinks, food, and dancing will be inside the gym. So -"

But by that point, Sam had left the dining room table. She already knew how the Halloween party worked because her sister had described it in very large detail every year she went to one, and since her sister was a senior, she had a pretty good idea about what was going to happen there.

After leaving the dining room, Sam dropped off her dirty dishes in the kitchen and headed to the living room to relax. In the living room, there was a giant green couch that was very comfy, a 42' flatscreen TV, and a stone fireplace that at that moment had an almost dead fire in it. _I should probably relight that fire again. _Sam then, went to the kitchen to pick up a lighter and some newspaper and went to sit by the fireplace. She grabbed the fire poker and poked the logs over to the side. When she did, smoke and hot embers rose off of the fire and up the chimney. Next, Sam crumpled the newspaper and threw it into the fire. It didn't catch on fire immediately, so she decided to use the lighter to light up the fire again. She put her hand in the fireplace and used the lighter to quickly light up the newspaper, but before she could remove her hand from out of the fireplace, the fire suddenly roared to life, filling the entire fireplace with its hot red flame.

Sam screamed. She was sure her hand was burnt off, but when, she pulled it out of the fireplace, it looked unharmed. She didn't even feel any pain from the fire at all. In fact, now that she thinks about it, she didn't really feel any pain at all. Sam just screamed because she was expecting pain and her hand to be melted because normally, having your hand in the middle of a super-hot fire would be painful.

"Sam, are you okay?" Alex worriedly asked. She had just run into the room after hearing Sam scream.

"Yeah, I'm okay. The fire just scared me. That's all," Sam lied. She didn't really feel like telling her sister that a few seconds ago, her hand was in the middle of a lively fire, but luckily, came out unscathed. _She would think that I had gone bonkers._

"Ooooookaaaay," Alex said, suspecting that Sam was lying, but knew that she would tell her in her own time. Alex then, left the living room and headed upstairs.

"What's happening to me?" Sam whispered to herself. She looked at her hands like they were dynamite. "What have I become?"

* * *

Even with 40 years of fighting experience under their belts, the gang had to admit, this had to be one of the hardest battles they've ever fought.

After Will called out Phobos, everything broke loose. All at the same time, they attacked Phobos with everything they had. Will threw some of her most powerful lightning bolts at him, while Irma conjured up multiple giant water balls and flung them at Phobos. Matt fired his double eye beams, and Taranee hurled humongous blue hot fireballs. Cornelia launched mountain sized rocks at Phobos, while Caleb and Nigel got their swords ready to rush in and fight.

All of their attacks combined resulted in a big, mushroom-shaped explosion with Phobos still in it. The blast wave of the explosion knocked them off of their feet.

Irma was the first to get back up. She dusted her clothes off and laughed. "See? I told you. Phobos is as easy to defeat as a piece of lettuce."

"Uh, Irma? I think you might want to take another look," Cornelia said, getting up and pointing towards the explosion.

When the dust settled, what they saw made them turn pale.

"Ouch... That hurt," Phobos said, wiping off his arm. "Or was it supposed to?" Phobos smirked, and that's when Caleb and Nigel jumped into action. Caleb sprinted at Phobos and did a jump strike, while Nigel slid and did a sweep to try and trip Phobos, but it didn't work because Phobos swiftly and gracefully jumped out of the way of both the attacks. That was when Will, Irma, Taranee, Cornelia, and Matt started to pelt him with attacks.

"Take that!" Irma exclaimed as she shot blasts of water at him, but Phobos moved around so fast, that it was hard for Irma to get a good shot at him.

Cornelia tried to grab him with big, thick green vines, but Phobos managed to dodge them. "He's too fast! I can't get him!" Cornelia yelled.

"Stop moving, Phobos!" Will screamed angrily as she hurled dozens of lightning bolts at Phobos, but to no prevail, while Taranee sent a shower of fireballs to burn Phobos, but somehow he seemed to dodge all of them.

"What are we going to do? He's dodging all of our attacks!" Matt stated as he flew above Phobos trying to hit him with his eye laser beams, failing miserably.

It seemed like no matter how hard they tried, they just couldn't land a hit on Phobos, and it was annoying.

Suddenly, Phobos stopped. "Now it's time for some real action." He smiled evilly and attacked. He started out by throwing energy bolts in all directions.

"Look out!" Will hollered, trying to dodge all of the energy bolts coming at her.

Next, Phobos made a silver sword appear in his hand. He ran over to Caleb and Nigel and swiftly knocked their swords from out of their hands before they even knew what in the world was happening. He then shot an up close energy blast at them, sending them flying over to the other side of the prison. They hit the side railing and crumpled.

'Nigel!' Taranee thought yelled.

'Caleb!' Cornelia thought screamed.

Cornelia and Taranee rushed to the sides of their husbands to see if they were okay, while throwing rocks and weak fireballs that Phobos managed to avoid.

Afterwards, Phobos, who's dodging eye laser beams along the way, flew up to Matt and punched him in the gut with an energy punch. Matt groaned and started to fall from the sky.

'Crud! Matt!' Will thought cried.

Will, of course, rushed over to catch Matt and droped him down on the ground before flying full speed towards Phobos, ready to punch his face in for hurting her husband. When Will got close enough to Phobos, she launched a lightning bolt in his direction, but before it even touched Phobos, the lightning bolt dispersed. Will's mouth dropped open in shock, and she tried to make another lightning bolt, but she couldn't.

'We've got a huge problem here, guys,' Will thought.' I can't make lightning bolts!'

'What do you mean you can't make lightning bolts?' Taranee thought asked.

'I mean I can't make lightning bolts!' Will thought replied.

Will tried again desperately to make a lightning bolt or any other kind of attack with her powers, but it wasn't really working. All she could really do was coat her arms in weak electricity.

'Correct that', Will thought. 'Now, I can't do any attacks with my power, except coat my hands in weak electricity. What's happening?'

While Will was dealing with her powers, Phobos had already moved on, now rushing towards Taranee, Cornelia, and Irma, who were aiding the unconscious Nigel and Caleb.

"C'mon, guys, wake up," Cornelia said worriedly, shaking them a little.

"It's no use. They're out cold," Taranee sighed. She suddenly perked up. "Look out! Here comes Phobos!" She yelled, pointing towards said person rushing at them. Phobos threw an energy blast in their direction.

"I got it!" Cornelia shouted, pulling up a giant stone wall in front of them just in time. The energy blast hit the wall and destroyed it. Cornelia sat back down. "Ugh, that took a lot of energy to make... I feel so depleted."

Another energy blast was shot at them. "Uh, Corny? Think you can make another wall?" Irma fearfully questioned.

Cornelia stood up and tried to make another stone wall, but couldn't. "I - I can't!" Cornelia stuttered. She tried again, but failed. As the energy blast got closer and closer, the only thing Cornelia could do was scream, "Duck!" Everyone ducked and the energy blast narrowly went over their heads.

"This is ridiculous!" Taranee shouted. She shot a fireball and yelled, "Fire!" The fireball dispersed before it could reach its destination of Phobos. She shot a few more fireballs, but they all dispersed, too. "What's happening to my fire?"

"Let me give it a try. Water!" Irma hollered, shooting water blasts aiming for Phobos's face, but just like Taranee's, Cornelia's, and Will's attacks, they failed as well. She tried shooting some more, but each one eventually fell down to the ground as a puddle of water. "Uh oh."

'Will, our powers aren't working either,' Taranee thought.

'Hmmmmmmm...,' Will thought. 'Okay, here's the plan. You guys distract Phobos, and I'll try to sneak up behind him and knock him out.'

'Okay,' Irma thought.' I've got this. Watch and learned. Especially you, Corny.'

Cornelia mentally huffed. 'Irma! It's Cornelia! Not Corny!'

'Whatever, Corny,' Irma thought.

Cornelia sighed. 'Why do I even try?'

"Hey, Phobos!" Irma shouted, waving her arms wildly. "Over here!" Phobos looked towards Irma. Irma shouted again. "You're as easy to defeat as a piece of lettuce!" Phobos growled and shot a couple of energy balls at her. Irma managed to dodge them and kept on running.

Phobos shook his head and laughed. "You really think that bothers me? I know I could kill you all before you could even say 'Whoops.'."

"Like to see you try!"

"My pleasure," Phobos said, but before he could actually do anything, Will snuck up behind him and punched so hard in the back of the head that Phobos collapsed.

Everyone smiled. (By this point in time, Nigel, Caleb, and Matt are awake.) "Yeah!" Irma yelled out, jumping up and down excitedly. "We got him! Told you he was as easy to defeat as lettuce!"

Someone growled, and everyone froze. "Enough of these games. Time to die!" Phobos snarled. He then, sent an energy wave that knocked everyone off of their feet. He went over to Will and picked her up by the front of her top. "Starting with you!" he barked.

As Phobos charged a giant energy ball to finish her off, all Will could do was close her eyes and wait for it to come. She was too weak to fight back. She just felt drained. As she looked around the room, she saw that everyone was down. They were all unconscious, and Matt was reverted back to his normal human couldn't help her, and she couldn't help herself. She was done for, and she knew it.

As Phobos was about to hurl the humongous energy ball right at Will's unprotected face, Phobos suddenly let go of her and was shot to the other side of the room.

"Elyon!" Phobos growled, standing up.

"Phobos!" Elyon hollered. "Surrender yourself now, and nobody gets hurt!" She was floating in the middle of the prison with several white energy balls floating around her.

Phobos grinned. "Like I'll do that. By the way, see you later." Phobos said looking towards Will. Then, he opened up a fold and jumped through it with it closing afterwards.

"Are you guys okay?" Elyon questioned concerned.

"Sort of... Listen. We need to go," Will said, rubbing her arm.

"Where to?"

"Kandrakar," Will said seriously, standing up with a determined look on her face.

* * *

A/N: Thanks for reading. Thanks to Snake Whisperer, Featherleaf, HopelessRomantictdg, and daughter-of-Hades02 for putting this story on Favorites/Follower.


	6. Chapter 6

6

Disclaimer: I do NOT own W.I.T.C.H.

* * *

"Hay Lin!" Will cried out, rushing to hug one of her best friends.

"Will!" Hay Lin exclaimed, running to hug Will.

They hugged and laughed. "Man, we've missed you so much, Hay Lin. Ever since the accident... Well, it hasn't been the same without you," Will said sadly. Then, she smiled. "Nice robe," she smirked.

Hay Lin smiled. "Yeah, I've missed you guys, too, a lot. And the robe... Well, it's pretty free flowing, which is cool," she said, letting go of Will and twirling around in a circle. Instead of the funky original homemade clothes Hay Lin usually wore, she was now wearing a long white robe that basically everyone in Kandrakar wore. "So where are the guys?" Hay Lin asked, curiously looking around.

Will's face went grim. "It's Phobos. He attacked us earlier at the Meridian prison and knocked everyone out. Well, except for me. Anyways, we would've been destroyed if it wasn't for Elyon. She saved us."

As if on cue, Elyon stepped out of the fold with the gang magically following behind her. Her magic lifted them up into the air.

"Elyon!" Hay Lin yelled.

"Hay Lin!" Elyon screamed, rushing over to Hay Lin. They hugged, and then, broke apart. "It's great to see you!"

Hay Lin smiled. "It's great to see you, too... So how's Emily? She's 15 now, isn't she? I've been watching her for a while now, using the magic viewing water. She's really grown up," Hay Lin said with slight melancholy. She was pretty sad that she couldn't be down on Earth with her friends again.

"Yeah, she has, hasn't she? 15 years old... Man, soon, she won't need me anymore," Elyon said, looking down.

Hay Lin put a reassuring hand on Elyon's shoulder. "That's not true. She'll always need you. You just need to be there for her when she needs it," Hay Lin said, looking incredibly sad and wait, was that guilt on her face?

Elyon looked up and smiled at Hay Lin. "Thanks, Hay Lin."

"Sooooooooo... Hay Lin, where's the Oracle?" Will asked sheepishly. She felt a little bad for ruining a precious moment, but they really needed to know why their powers failed them in the middle of a battle and for the Oracle to heal their friends.

"The Oracle? Oh yeah! He wanted to see you guys! Come on!" Hay Lin said excitedly, walking off and gesturing for them to follow her.

Elyon and Will looked at each other, shrugged, and then, followed Hay Lin through the halls of Kandrakar.

When they arrived to the Congregation Hall with their fainted friends following behind them, they were surprised. For in the giant room was Halinor, Kadma, Yan Lin, Cassidy, Luba, Tibor, and of course, the Oracle.

The Oracle smiled. "Welcome Guardians and Queen Elyon of Meridian."

And that's when it broke out into a hugging fest with Will and Elyon saying hi to everyone, chatting, and hugging. It was like one big reunion.

The Oracle fake coughed loudly. Everyone quieted and faced towards him. He pointed over to the floating fainted bodies of Taranee, Irma, Caleb, Cornelia, Nigel, and Matt.

"Matt!" Will exclaimed, suddenly remembering that her friends and husband were unconscious. She ran over to them and checked to make sure they were still alive, not that they wouldn't be, but Will just wanted to make sure that they were. "Oracle, may you heal them?"

The Oracle grinned and nodded. "Of course," he simply said, walking over to the zonked out people. He then, put his hand above Matt's chest, and it started to glow. Soon enough, Matt woke up. Next, the Oracle moved on to Irma and healed her. Afterwards, he healed Taranee and Cornelia. Then, finally, he healed Caleb and Nigel, and eventually, everyone was awake and healed.

"Whoa... What hit me?" Irma asked, while rubbing her head and sitting up.

"I don't know, but it must have been pretty hard," Taranee said, sitting up, too.

"I know right? It feels like someone hit me in the head with a rock," Nigel added, rubbing his temples.

"A really hard rock," Matt agreed, closing his eyes.

"Yeah, but seriously, what happened?" Cornelia questioned.

Caleb rubbed his eyes and looked around. "I think we're in... Kandrakar?" Caleb said uncertainly.

"Then, you would be right, warrior of Meridian. You are all in Kandrakar," the Oracle said.

That was when Will ran to her friends and gave them all hugs. "I'm so glad you guys are all okay," Will said. "I was so worried. I mean when Phobos attacked... I thought... Never mind." She smiled.

Soon enough, Elyon, Hay Lin, and everybody else joined the party. They were talking, chatting, and hugging. It was a very happy moment.

"So Oracle, why did we lose our powers in the middle of the battle?" Irma questioned, breaking her hug with Hay Lin.

"Wait," Yan Lin started. "You girls lost your powers during your battle?" Irma, Cornelia, Taranee, and Will nodded their heads.

"Yeah, I mean we weren't doing that great to start with, and I thought that was because we were short one, but then, we lost our powers after a while, and well, it was hard," Will said, thinking back on their previous battle.

"We would've lost if Elyon hadn't stepped in," Taranee added.

"Actually, we probably wouldn't even be here right now if it wasn't for Elyon," Cornelia commented.

"Guardians, I think I know what the problem is," the Oracle said. He paused.

"Well, what's the problem? What's wrong with our powers?" Irma asked impatiently.

"The Heart of Kandrakar has chosen new Guardians of the Veil."

* * *

CeCe was stressed out. She couldn't relax. Mostly because of the nightmare she had last night. It was horrible. She had woken up in a cold sweat scared to death. She shuddered.

"Are you okay, CeCe?" AJ asked concerned. AJ and CeCe were walking to school together.

"Yeah, just peachy," CeCe replied nervously. There was no way she could tell AJ. If she did, AJ would either just dismiss it as a nightmare or be as scared as CeCe was and there was no way she was going to let that happen. They didn't need two scared people and for AJ to think CeCe was crazy. "Hey, uh, AJ?"

"Yeah?" They turned at a corner of the road and waited, so they could cross the street. AJ looked towards CeCe.

"Have you seen any big green snake people lately?" CeCe questioned nervously.

"Green snake people? What's that?" AJ asked with confusion written all over her face. The light turned and they walked across the street.

"You know, a snake humanoid. Waist up, it's sort of human and waist down, it's a snake. But what I mean is do you know any? Or have you seen one?"

"No, I haven't... Why do you ask? I mean it's kind of a really weird question you know."

"Yeah, I know... And just asking." But CeCe wasn't just asking. Deep in her heart, she knew that her nightmare wasn't just a nightmare. She had a feeling that it was something more. Something real. And that's what scared her the most.

(Nightmare)

CeCe was alone and scared. It looked like she was on some kind of roof, which didn't really make any sense to her because, why would she on a roof in the middle of the night? It was just confusing.

She shook her head and went over a little closer to the edge of the roof. She looked over the railing and gasped.

CeCe was on the roof of Sheffield Institute! When she looked down below, she saw a group of people in costumes surrounding a giant jack o'lantern. In front of the group of people, she saw someone in all black clothing with what looked like a tail and ears. They were carrying a lit torch and had white hair. Suddenly, she recognized the person. It was Mrs. Knickerbocker! Then, it hit her. This was the Sheffield Institute Halloween party! But wait, what was she doing on the roof, while the real party was going on downstairs?

_Thump!_

CeCe quickly turned around, her dark brown eyes wide. She looked towards the trapdoor that led up to the roof of the school and realized that someone was trying to open it. (CeCe is in the bell tower part roof of the school.)

_Thump!_

The trapdoor jumped again. CeCe held her breath and started to back away from the trapdoor slowly.

_Thump!_

This time the trapdoor flung opened and CeCe jumped 50 feet into the air, but sighed in relief when she saw that it was just AJ.

"Oh, hey AJ," CeCe said, waving. "What brings you up here? I mean I don't know why I'm up here, but you know... So, hi."

AJ didn't answer. In fact, it was like AJ didn't even see CeCe. AJ just kept looking around frantically with a scared, wild look in her eyes.

"AJ, what's wrong? What happened?" CeCe asked worriedly. She walked over to her friend and tried to put a reassuring hand on her shoulder, but her hand just went right through it. CeCe gasped and jumped back.

_What the heck!? Did my hand just go through AJ's shoulder?_ CeCe tried to touch AJ's shoulder again, but her hand went right through it. Next, she tried to give AJ a big bear hug, but she just fell right through AJ and almost stumbled off of the roof. _Whoa! I'm a ghost! That's so cool! Well, as cool as phasing through everything and not being able to really talk to people can be. _

Suddenly, the trapdoor burst open and smoke and dust flew everywhere. AJ's eyes widened and she moved away from the trapdoor, pressing her back against the railing.

When the smoke cleared, CeCe gasped at what she saw. It was a giant green snake! Well, sort of. It had sort of a green human face with a red mask covering its orange snake eyes. Also, on its face were pointy ears and even pointier teeth. It had long white hair and 2 big muscly arms. And where its legs were supposed to be was a humongous snake tail.

"Wh - What do you want?" AJ stuttered, trying to put on a brave face, but it wasn't really working out very well.

The creature glared at her. "Give me the Heart of Kandrakar!" it howled. _What's the Heart of Kandrakar? Is that some kind of heart of some animal named Kandrakar? Hmmmmmmm..._

"I - I don't have it."

"Liar!" the creature hissed and dashed forward to attack her.

As the creature was about to attack AJ with its tail, CeCe ran forward and tried to tackle the creature, but unfortunately, just phased through it, sliding across the floor and hitting the railing.

CeCe quickly turned her head towards AJ and sighed in relief when she jumped backwards onto the railing to dodge its tail. Next, as the creature went to punch her gut, AJ managed to dodge it by moving to the left, losing her balance a little. Sadly, that moment of weakness was all that the monster needed for it then swiftly grabbed AJ by the neck and picked her up, choking her a little. CeCe started panicking.

"Now give me what I came for, you wretched little girl," the creature growled. Afterwards, it moved AJ over the railing of the roof. "Or I'll throw you off of this roof."

"N - Nev - ver," AJ choked out, struggling against its hold on her.

"So be it," the creature said, letting go of AJ.

CeCe cried out, "No! AJ!" And the last thing CeCe heard before she blacked out was AJ's screams as she fell to her death.

(End of Nightmare)

* * *

"What did you do that for!?"

"Why do you care?"

"I care because you attacked them as me!" Phobos yelled at the mysterious figure.

"So what!" the mysterious figure hollered back.

"So they'll come looking for me!"

"No, they won't."

"What do you mean they won't!? You attacked them as me! Of course they'll come after me! That's what they do!"

"Trust me. They won't. They'll figure out that it was me glamoured as you, eventually."

"How do you know?"

"Unlike you, I don't underestimate my enemies."

"What do you mean? I don't underestimate the Guardians!"

"Of course not. 'I'm Phobos and some little girls can't beat me!' But you know what, Phobos! News flash! Some little girls did beat you. In fact, some little girls beat you multiple times!"

Phobos grabbed the mysterious figure by the neck. "Don't you dare!" he hissed.

The mysterious figure waved their hand, making Phobos let go of them. They waved their hand again and Phobos was hurled against the wall. Suddenly, vines came out of the wall and wrapped themselves around Phobos, pinning him against the wall.

"You would like that, wouldn't you, Phobos?" the mysterious figure growled. "To kill me and take all of my powers. Well, too bad! I'm the one who gave you those powers, and I can just as easily take them away! Got that, Phobos? I can take away your powers, which means that you would revert to weaker older state. Do you want that Phobos? Huh? Do you!?" As the mysterious figure got louder, the vines around Phobos got tighter.

"C-Can't b-breathe," Phobos choked, struggling against the vines. Eventually, his body went limp, so the mysterious figure waved their hand, making the vines disappear. Phobos fell down coughing. "No, I don't."

"Of course not. Now get up. It's time to go," the mysterious figure said, motioning for Phobos to follow them.

"Go where?" Phobos asked, now following the mysterious figure.

"To pick up an old ally of yours."

* * *

A/N: Thanks for reading. :)


	7. Chapter 7

7

Disclaimer: I do NOT own W.I.T.C.H.

* * *

"What do you mean there are new guardians!?" Irma questioned, hands on her hips.

"I mean the Heart of Kandrakar has chosen new guardians," the Oracle said calmly.

"Wow, that really helped explain it," Irma said sarcastically. "You just said the same thing over again!"

"Irma, calm down," Will said, putting a comforting hand on her shoulder. She turned towards the Oracle. "So the Heart has chosen new Guardians, right?" The Oracle nodded.

"So does that mean we're retired?" Taranee asked.

Yan Lin answered that one. "Well, yes and no. Technically, you are retired as the Guardians, just like we were and are," Yan Lin said, pointing towards Cassidy, Kadma, Halinor, and herself.

"And when you're retired, all you'll have left of your powers is your eternal gift," Kadma added.

"But on the other hand, you aren't really retired because you can still help," Halinor said.

"Yeah, help the little newbie Guardians," Cassidy smiled.

"Oh, yay! We can teach them how to use our powers and all kinds of cool stuff!" Hay Lin exclaimed.

"And we can watch them replace us, too," Cornelia mumbled.

"What was that, honey?" Caleb questioned.

Cornelia fidgeted a little. "Oh, nothing, sweetie," Cornelia smiled.

"Soooooooo...," Matt said. "Who are the next Guardians anyway?"

"Are they people we know?" Nigel asked curiously.

The Oracle smiled and turned towards Will. "Yes, all 5 of them are people you know."

Will gained a confused look on her face. "Say what now?"

"All 5 of the new Guardians are people you know, Will."

"What do you mean?"

"They're people who see you to learn, Will."

* * *

"Come on people! Let's hustle! Go! Go! Go!"

"Stevie, relax. We've got plenty of time. There's no need to stress yourself out and get wrinkles," Beth said with her arm draped over Stevie's shoulder.

"I know, but I don't want people to be late for their classes," Stevie explained.

Stevie, captain of the cheerleading squad, had just ended their weekly morning practice before school. Now, the cheerleading squad was heading into the locker rooms to change and prepare for their always glamorous school day.

"So, did you have fun yesterday with the loser squad?" Beth asked.

"You mean our science groups?" Stevie questioned. Beth nodded. "Then, no way! It was awful, Beth. I mean stuck in a room full of dorks! I totally wish we were in a group together." But even though she would never admit it, Stevie actually kind of liked being in a group with them. There was something about it. Something special.

"Yeah, I know. I wish we were in a group, too. Imagine it. We would make the ultimate science group." Suddenly, they burst into laughter, knowing that they were both pretty bad at science. "Actually, me, you, and a couple of nerds to do all of the work for us. That would be the ultimate science group."

Stevie opened her mouth to say more, but was interrupted by an evil laugh that sounded a lot like a witch's cackle, coming from inside of the locker room. They looked towards the locker room, then back at each other.

"What was that?" Stevie inquired.

"I don't know," Beth replied. "Let's go find out." And with that, the two rushed into the locker room.

"Oh my gosh," Stevie murmured. All of the squad was bunched up in a corner of the locker room, and it looked like they were beating on someone.

"What's going on here?" Beth yelled. Everyone froze and turned around.

"This stupid geek was in our locker room when we came in," a blonde cheerleader with green eyes sneered.

"She wouldn't leave, so we taught her a lesson," another cheerleader on the squad said.

Beth clapped her hands together. "Wow. So let's see this geek, shall we?" She said looking towards Stevie, who nodded. The cheerleaders moved over to the sides, showing someone curled up into a ball on the ground. The person opened their eyes, looked around, and slowly uncurled themselves.

When Stevie realized who it was, a lump of guilt formed in her throat. It was CeCe! She had bruises and cuts everywhere, and her dark hair that was normally in a ponytail was a complete mess, making her look like she had major bed head. Her colorful plaid shorts and vivid green shirt were smeared with dirt and grime, and her normally bright and happy dark brown eyes were filled with fear.

"St-Stevie?" CeCe stuttered.

"Quiet geek," Beth commanded. She turned to Stevie. "You know what, Stevie? I think you should pound this little wretch. Punch her in the face. She needs to learn some manners."

Stevie hesitated. _Should I do this? I mean beating up people is wrong, but if I don't, then, I might get kicked off of the squad. Heck, I might even get kicked off of the Infielder group... And I can't go back to that. Not now. Not ever._

(Flashback)

"Well, look who it is, gals. It's Stupid Stevie!"

Stevie looked up from her notebook to see that she was surrounded by some girls.

"What do you want, Melissa?" Stevie asked nervously to the leader of the group.

"For you to get out of our playground, Stupid," Melissa said with a slightly raised voice.

"B-But this isn't your playground. It's everybody's," Stevie stuttered. She tightened her hold on her notebook.

"Well, maybe if you weren't so stupid, you would've noticed that this is my playground. I mean, seriously, look around." So that's what Stevie did. She looked at the playground, and as Stevie looked around the playground, she noticed that it was empty. There was no one on the playground. No one was sliding the different slides. No one was on the swings. No one was inside the giant green play tunnels. None of the kids were on the playground. Period.

Suddenly, something moved in the corner of Stevie's eye. She looked towards it and saw that all of the kids were on the stairs leading up to the school from the playground. Some of the kids were lying down, and others were talking to each other. A couple was reading, while a few were throwing pebbles at each other, but the bottom line is that most of them looked bored. They looked like they longed to play on the playground, but they were too scared to stand up to Melissa.

"Wh-Why can't the other kids be on the playground? It's big enough to share, you know?" Stevie questioned, still scared. She started to sweat with nervousness, and her palms became clammy.

"Why? Because they can't, especially you," Melissa snapped.

"Wh-Why especially me?"

"Because, you're ugly, slow, fat, geeky, nerdy, and worst of all," Melissa smiled evilly. "Stupid."

Stevie felt her face turn red and tears come to her eyes. "Wh-What?"

Melissa smirked and pointed towards the stairs. "You heard what I said. Now leave, Stupid Stevie, or else."

Stevie's heart raced_. What should I do? Should I stand up to her? I mean I want, I really want to, but Melissa, she's so intimidating. I-I'm scared of her._ Stevie slapped her own forehead lightly in a 'well, no duh' way. _Wow, nice way to state the obvious, Stevie._

"Look! The ugly weirdo just hit her own stupid forehead!" Melissa mocked. Afterwards, the group of girls laughed like it was the funniest thing they've ever heard. "So what is it loser? Go or pay."

Stevie hesitated, and then, left the playground ashamed that she didn't have the guts to stand up to Melissa.

"Coward!" Melissa screamed. Next, she ran up to Stevie, swiftly turned her around, and punched her on the nose.

Stevie stumbled backwards due to impact and fell on the ground. She brought her hand to her nose and felt that it was wet. She looked at her hand and saw that it was covered with blood.

"Wh-Why did you do that!?" Stevie yelled.

"Because I can," Melissa said darkly. "Now you better stay out of my way. Got that, Stupid Stevie?" Stevie nodded. Melissa smiled and said, "Great." And with that she turned on her heel and walked away with her followers following her, leaving Stevie on the ground in tears holding her bloodied nose.

(End of Flashback)

"Stevie! Are you going to punch her or not?" Beth asked, bringing Stevie back reality.

Stevie shook her head and said, "Don't worry. I'll handle this."

Suddenly, Stevie grabbed CeCe by the collar of her shirt with her perfectly manicured nails and slammed her against the stone wall of the locker room.

"I'm sorry," Stevie whispered so only CeCe could hear. Then, Stevie brought her fist back and punched CeCe in the face, letting go of her. CeCe slid down the wall, clutching her eye. Afterwards, she crawled around Stevie, got up, and ran out of the locker room with tears running down her cheeks while holding her eye.

As Stevie watched CeCe run away, she felt her lump of guilt get even bigger. She looked at her hands.

_What have I done?_

* * *

"So, what was the real point of that?"

"Real point of what?"

"What was the real point of attacking the Guardians?" Phobos questioned the mysterious hooded figure. They were walking through a forest, heading to a very important place.

"What do you mean?" The mysterious hooded figure replied.

"I mean you told me why you attacked them as _me_, but I want to know _why _you attacked them in the first place?"

The hooded figure stopped. "They're coming."

Phobos stopped and panicked a little. "Who's coming?"

"The new guardians, Phobos. They're coming." The mysterious figure paused. "That was the reason I attacked the Guardians. I wanted to see if their powers are waning, and they are. You see, their powers are being transferred to the new Guardians. That's why their powers are draining."

"So, new guardians are coming. How's that help us?"

The mysterious figure sighed. "Well you see, Phobos, with new guardians, comes inexperienced guardians. And with inexperienced guardians, comes more mistakes. And with more mistakes, comes multiple opportunities for us. Opportunities for us to get the heart. Do you see now, Phobos? It's perfect!"

It was like a lightbulb went off in Phobos's head. "Ohhhhhhhh, I get it. The new guardians will be easier to trick. Easier to deceive. And best of all, it'll be easier to get the heart!"

The mysterious figure nodded its head. "Exactly."

And with that, they continued their journey to Meridian's prison, where the one they needed lied in wait.

* * *

Thanks for reading! And thanks to Brimo for reviewing! :)


	8. Chapter 8

8

Disclaimer: I do NOT own W.I.T.C.H.

* * *

"OH MY GOSH! What happened to you!?"

"I'm fine, Sam. It's nothing."

"Nothing!? Nothing!? That's not just nothing, CeCe! You have a giant blackeye the size of Texas!" Sam screamed. It was like there was a giant stain on her left eye (Well, left from Sam's point of view), and Sam didn't like it. The bruise went up all the way to CeCe's eyebrow, following the curve of her nose going counterclockwise and the bottom of the bruise ran along the top part of her cheek. It was black, blue, purple, and yellow? Anyways, surprisingly, CeCe was still able to open her bruised eye.

"It's not that big, Sam. If the bruise was the size of Texas, it would probably stretch over a couple of states, which would be very weird and awkward, but cool at the same time. Besides, it doesn't even hurt that much." CeCe touched her black eye lightly with her index finger and winced. "See? I can barely feel it."

"Ooooookaaaaaaay," Sam said skeptically. "Listen, can you at least tell me how you got that blackeye?"

CeCe hesitated. "I don't know. You won't like it, and it won't end well."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean if I tell you, then, you might get angry and attack them or something, and I don't really want you to get in trouble for fighting."

"Why would you think I would get in a fight?"

"Because, I know you."

Sam thought about that for a second. Sure, she was pretty protective over her friends, especially CeCe, her best friend, and sure, she has a pretty big temper, but fighting? That sounded a little far-fetched to her. Well, actually, now that she thinks about it, she realized that she probably WOULD fight someone to protect her family and friends.

Sam shook her head at that last thought. "C'mon CeCe. Will you please tell me?" Suddenly, she heard someone's voice in her head.

_I can't let her know that it was Stevie,_ the voice in her mind said. _If she knew, it wouldn't be good._

Sam's mouth dropped open slightly. _W-Was that CeCe's voice in my head?_ Sam shook her head stunned by her theory she had just come up with.

"CeCe, did you just say something?" Sam asked nervously.

"No. I didn't say anything. Why?"

"Are you sure? I could've sworn you said something about Stevie..."

CeCe seemed to panic a little at the mention of Stevie's name, but soon enough, her face became normal again. "What about Stevie? Because I didn't say anything about anyone."

Then, it was like a lightbulb went off in Sam's head. "It was Stevie! Wasn't it? She was the one who gave you the black eye!"

CeCe's eyes widened slightly. "Maaaaybeeeeeee," she said unbelievably.

Sam smiled. "You know that you're a terrible liar, right CeCe?"

CeCe sighed in defeat. "I know. And you're right. Stevie was the one who gave me the blackeye."

Sam frowned. "So it WAS Stevie... Why that bi-"

"Whoa! Language!" CeCe said loudly, interrupting Sam's sentence.

"I didn't even finish the word..."

"Yeah, but I knew what word you were going to say."

Sam pushed her glasses back onto the bridge of her nose. "Okay, okay, but seriously, I can't believe Stevie punched you in the face! Ohhhhhh, the next time I see her, she better watch out!"

"No! Don't! That's exactly why I was so reluctant to tell you! I don't want you to beat her! I mean it's not even that big of a deal."

Sam shook her head for like the millionth time that day. "Not a big deal!? CeCe, Stevie gave you a black eye for goodness sake! How did you even get it, anyways?"

"Well," CeCe said, putting a finger on her chin. "I went into the locker room earlier this morning to put away my gym clothes, so I didn't have to lug them around all day, when suddenly, most of the cheerleaders came into the locker rooms after what I'm guessing was their morning practice. They came in, got mad at me for some reason, and the next thing I know that's happening, they start to attack me. After about what seemed like 5 hours, they stopped and moved away. Then, I saw Stevie and Beth, Stevie punched me in the face, and that's basically it." CeCe shrugged. "Like I said, it's not that big of a deal."

Sam pinched her nose and sighed like she always does when she's upset. "Listen, CeCe, I think that you need to evaluate your definition of a big deal because you're taking this rather lightly. In fact, you're taking this TOO lightly. This is an enormous deal. Someone punched you in the eye!"

CeCe leaned against her locker door. "I know, but it's okay. I mean it's not like I'm dying or anything. Besides, Stevie did apologize to me before she punched me in the face."

Sam's mouth dropped open in shock. Stevie. Apologizing? It was like those two words didn't fit right together in her head. "Stevie apologized to you?" Sam asked flabbergasted.

CeCe nodded her head. "Yeah, she did. So could you please promise me not to attack her back? Pretty please with a cherry on top?"

Sam sighed. Sure, she really wanted to punch Stevie back in the face for hitting CeCe, but she decided that promising CeCe would make her happier. "Fine, I promise."

CeCe face split into a huge smile. "Thanks, Stevie," she said bubbly.

"You're welcome," Sam replied, putting an arm around CeCe's shoulder in a friendly way as they headed to Biology together.

* * *

Will was frantic with worry and nervousness. She was now back on Earth teaching her Biology classes, but that's not what was worrying her. It was what the Oracle had said that did.

The Oracle's words still rang in her head. They're people who see you to learn, Will.

And the meaning behind those words couldn't have been clearer. He meant that the new Guardians were some of her students! But that's not what was making Will nervous, either. What was making her nervous, however, was finding them and explaining the whole Guardian business to them. What if they didn't believe her? What if they exploit the story to the whole world? Just thinking about all of the possibilities of what could happen was nerve racking. _I wonder if Yan Lin was this nervous when she was telling us about the whole Guardian thing._

Will tightened her grip on the heart, which was in her jacket pocket. Suddenly, she remembered that she was not alone. The other Guardians, her best friends forever, would be there to help her explain the situation to the new Guardians. And that's when she started to think about what had happened earlier that day...

(Flashback)

"They're people who see you to learn, Will," the Oracle said calmly.

A look of realization pasted itself onto Taranee's face. "Like students!" she yelled out. Everyone turned to look at her. "So the new Guardians are some of Will's students!"

The Oracle smiled. "Exactly."

"But how are we supposed to find them? I have over 200 students!" Will questioned.

"Yeah, it's like looking for a few needles in a giant haystack," Irma added.

"Use the Heart, Will," Yan Lin suddenly said. "The Heart is the key to finding the new Guardians."

"But how?" Will inquired.

Cassidy snapped her fingers. "That's a great idea, Yannie." She turned towards Will. "It's easy. Walk around the classroom with the Heart in your pocket each period, and when it vibrates, it means that a new Guardian is really close."

"That must be why the heart was vibrating before!" Matt exclaimed.

"To indicate that it was time for new guardians!" Nigel finished for Matt.

"And that makes sense!" Halinor blurted. "Remember, Yannie, how the Heart vibrated before you told W.I.T.C.H. about the whole Guardian thing?"

"Oh yeah! I remember that day you told us, Grandma! That day I had sneezed my bedroom apart, and when I came to see you about it, your wardrobe started violently vibrating. The Heart was in the wardrobe, right? It wasn't a bear with a spotlight! It was the Heart of Kandrakar!" Hay Lin shouted.

"Yes, my little Hay Lin, it was. And Halinor? Yeah, I remember. So what period did the Heart vibrate, Will?" Yan Lin said.

"My 6th period Biology class," Will stated.

"So during your next 6th period Biology class, just walk around and wait for the Heart to vibrate to show you who the next Guardians are!" Kadma piped in.

"Yeah, and then, we can tell them about the whole Guardian thing together!" Hay Lin exclaimed excitedly.

"All of us?" Cornelia asked. "Are you sure that's a good idea?"

"What do you mean?" Hay Lin questioned, confused.

"I mean all of us? Is that such a good idea? I mean we don't want to overwhelm them by having lots of people there. It would be kind of intimidating," Cornelia replied.

"So you're saying just the five of us, right?" Irma inquired.

"No, I think Cornelia means just the four of you," Caleb said. "Right?"

Cornelia nodded. "Just Will, Irma, Taranee, and me."

"What about me?" Hay Lin questioned, feeling less bubbly.

"No offense though, but you're kind of errrrrrr... Dead, Hay Lin. It would be kind of suspicious if you just appeared back on Earth alive and healthy again," Cornelia said, feeling guilty when she saw Hay Lin deflate.

"Or maybe we could ask the Oracle if he would let you come down to Earth just to tell the new Guardians about the whole guardian thing," suggested Elyon, who also noticed Hay Lin's sudden deflation. "So what do you say Oracle?"

But before the Oracle could answer, Luba answered for him. "No, the Oracle will not allow it. I'm sorry, Hay Lin, but the risks are too high. Besides, any person of the Council of Kandrakar is not allowed to leave, anyways. The -"

But before Luba could continue, the Oracle stepped in. "Now hold on Luba. I did not say that Hay Lin couldn't go down to Earh this one time."

"But sir-"

The Oracle held up his hand, and Luba fell silent. "Now Guardians, even though the risks are high, I will allow Hay Lin to go back to Earth this one time, so you all can explain the new Guardians' destinies to them."

Hay Lin smiled and ran to hug the Oracle. "Thank you Oracle," she said happily. Everyone else eventually joined the group hug, too.

After a about a minute of group hugging, everyone broke apart. "You're welcome, Hay Lin," the Oracle smiled. "Now go, Guardians. It's almost time for you to find and tell the new Guardians their fate."

Will slashed the air with the Heart and a blue magical fold through space and time opened up. As Caleb was about to step into the fold, he remembered something. "Wait! But what about Phobos?" Everyone turned towards the Oracle.

The Councils' faces went grim. "Unfortunately, we haven't been able to track Phobos ever since you fought him in Meridian, but we'll keep searching and notify you as soon as we find something," Tibor said.

"And I'll look for him in Meridian," Elyon added.

The group nodded and stepped into the mystical blue fold to Earth, their home.

(End of Flashback)

"Mrs. Vandom? Hello? Mrs. Vandom? Do you have any pencils I can borrow? Because I lost mine somewhere."

Will opened her eyes to see CeCe standing in front of her with a purple baseball cap tilted so it covered her eyes.

Suddenly, Will felt a vibration in her hand. _Is that my phone?_ She felt the object with her hand and realized that it wasn't her phone but the Heart. Then, she remembered. Before drifting off, she had been gripping the Heart in her hand in her pocket. _Oh my gosh! It's the Heart and it's vibrating_! She looked up at CeCe from her seat at her desk and realized what that meant. CeCe was one of the new Guardians!

Will smiled. "Yes?"

"Uhhhhhhh... Do you have any extra pencils I can borrow? Because I lost mine."

Will's smile grew bigger. _I can't believe I already found one of the new Guardians! At this rate, I'll find all of them before the period ends. Perfect. _Will opened up one of her drawers with pencils, picked up a light purple one, and handed it to CeCe. "Here you go, sweetie. Need anything else?"

CeCe shook her head. "Nope, I'm good. Thanks for the pencil." And as CeCe walked off to her seat, the Heart calmed down and eventually stopped vibrating.

Hmmmmm... So how to find the rest of the Guardians without being suspicious... Hmmmmmmm... Will snapped her fingers like she had a lightbulb moment. _Nice plan, Will. It's fantastic._ Will clasped her hands together. _Now let's start..._

Will got up from her seat and started to walk around the classroom with her hand in her jacket pocket, holding the Heart. She walked down the first row closest to her desk with no results until she came to Sam's desk, and that's when the Heart started to vibrate pretty violently. To quiet the Heart before people noticed it, Will quickly moved away from Sam. _Oh, so Sam's one of the new Guardians, too. CeCe, now Sam... I wonder who else?_

So Will continued making her way through the class, noting the students that the Heart was next to every time it vibrated. CeCe, Sam, Stevie, Kara, and... Will looked around and noticed that she had gone through all of the rows. _Where's the last new Guardian?_ Will started to panic a little. _Where is she? What if I missed her?_

Suddenly, someone came barreling into the classroom.

"Hey, Mrs. Vandom. Thanks for the bathroom pass," AJ said.

Will smiled and sighed in relief. _Oh, right. I gave AJ a bathroom pass earlier. I must've not even noticed because I was so focused on this new Guardians thing_. "You're welcome," Will said, walking towards AJ, who was just standing there looking at the clock above the door. When Will got within a couple of feet of where AJ was standing, Will felt the Heart vibrate.

"And thank you," Will whispered excitedly that she had found all of the new Guardians.

_Brrrrriiiiiiiiiiinnnnnnggggg ggggg. _

Once the bell rang, everyone was in a huge shuffle rushing to get their stuff and head to lunch.

"Wait! If AJ, Kara, Stevie, Sam, and CeCe could hang back here a second before going to lunch! That would be great!" Will shouted over the students.

As most of the students filed out, all there was left was a glaring Sam, a guilty Stevie, a happy injured CeCe, a bored Kara, a confident AJ, and a very nervous Will.

* * *

A/N: Thanks for reading! :)


	9. Chapter 9

9

Disclaimer: I do NOT own W.I.T.C.H.

* * *

Kara was worried. At the end of Biology, Mrs. Vandom had told her, Sam, AJ, CeCe, and Stevie to come to her house after school and that it was really important, so that was why she had left right after school, not waiting for anyone. Now, she was walking to Mrs. Vandom's house, thinking about what Mrs. Vandom wanted to talk to them about.

_Maybe, it's my grades. I mean sure I'm not the best student, but my grades aren't horrible. I'm a C+ average student. _Kara kicked a pebble she saw on the ground. _Or maybe she wants to tell us we've been kicked out of her class._ Kara came to a fork in the sidewalk and went right, while rethinking that last thought. _Ah, but I doubt that one's right. CeCe is too sweet for her one good and AJ and Sam aren't really what you would call troublemakers. Also, Stevie doesn't really disturb the class that much. Me on the other hand... Well, that's a different story._

Kara giggled at that last part. _Wow. That is so true._

"What's so funny?"

Kara whirled around to find AJ behind her, grinning. "Oh, it's nothing. Just a true statement," Kara said calmly. She then continued on her way.

"Oh, okay," AJ replied, still grinning. She ran up to catch up with Kara. "Sooooooooo... Are you heading to Mrs. Vandom's house?"

"Yes, aren't you?"

"Yup. It sounded like she wanted to tell us something important."

"Yeah, I bet it is. Probably about how all of us, except for Sam, are failing that class."

AJ raised an eyebrow. "Why? Are you failing Biology right now?"

Kara hesitated. "Well, technically, no. But a D- is pretty close to failing. Don't you think so?"

AJ shrugged. "Sure, I guess so."

Afterwards, they walked together in silence until AJ broke it. "So remember how we went to CeCe's house two days ago?" Kara nodded. "Well, I was wondering. Do you know why..."

"Why CeCe looks absolutely nothing like her parents?" Kara interrupted.

AJ nodded her head. "Yeah! How'd you know what I was going to ask?"

Kara shrugged. "I don't know. Just a guess, I guess. Anyways, yes I do. It's because she was adopted."

A look of shock came across AJ's face. "What?"

"I said that CeCe was adopted."

"Oh."

"Yup. CeCe was adopted when she was a baby, but she doesn't really like to talk about it."

"Okay." AJ looked up and a look of realization came upon her face. "Hey! This is it!" she said, pointing towards a white house. It had a decent sized front yard with a giant oak tree and was surrounded by woods.

Kara looked at the slip of paper Mrs. Vandom had given each of them with her house address on it. She looked at the numbers on the mailbox next to driveway and compared them to the ones on the paper. "Yeah, this is definitely it. The address matches perfectly." They looked towards the driveway and saw a SUV parked in it.

"And it looks like Mrs. Vandom is home." AJ moved her gaze towards Kara. "Are you ready for this?"

Kara laughed. "I've been ready for this moment my entire life."

* * *

When Kara stepped into her teacher's house, she was surprised to see so many people there. Well, actually there were only five people there, but still, it seemed like a lot of people to her.

All of them were women and about Mrs. Vandom's age, except for the one standing up near the armchair. She looked like she was in her early forties. (Keep in mind, Hay Lin died when she was about in her early forties, and since she didn't really age in Kandrakar, she still looks like she's in her early forties.) She had dark hair that was pulled into two twin pigtails and black eyes. The woman sitting in the armchair had brown hair with a little gray mixed in and turquoise eyes. She and the dark haired woman seemed to be talking to each other excitedly. On the couch sat two more women. One had brown eyes and medium length black hair with a long braid on the right side of her head (from Kara's point of view). She also had darker skin just like Kara. The other one had beautiful long blonde hair and light blue eyes. The two on the couch were talking to each other.

Kara looked towards AJ and mouthed, "Who are they?"

AJ shrugged and mouthed back, "I don't know."

Suddenly, Mrs. Vandom appeared from the kitchen doorway carrying a tray of tea and cookies. "Oh, hey guys," Mrs. Vandom said, noticing Kara and AJ just standing there all awkward and everything.

Kara waved and said, "Hey, teach. What's -" But before she could finish, she was smothered in a humungous hug, and the only things she could see were twin ponytails.

"Oh, hi! I'm Hay Lin! You must be Kara! Will has told me so much about you, which wasn't really that much, but whatever, right? Ooooooh! I love your skirt!" Hay Lin said excitedly.

"Uh, thanks," Kara replied awkwardly before evaluating this Hay Lin person. _Genuine smile. Check. Funky sense of style. Kara noted Hay Lin's periwinkle skirt and sky blue top. Check. Bubbly personality. Check. Well, this Hay Lin person looks pretty nice, but I'd better be careful around her. In fact, all of them look kind and caring, but I think I should still be wary around them. Even the nicest people can be deceiving._ Kara thought about how Rush had seemed like her best friend forever who was kind, thoughtful, and amazing, but had turned out to be a deceiving witch that had used her only as a tool of revenge to hurt CeCe.

"Whoa, Hay Hay. I think you're scaring them. Maybe you should calm down a little," Irma suggested.

Hay Lin just ignored her. "And you must be AJ! I'm Hay Lin, and it's great to meet you! How are you doing? Because I'm doing great!" Hay Lin said happily, while smothering AJ in a big hug.

"Uh, good. Thanks," AJ said, smiling nervously. It's not every day that you're hugged by some random stranger you don't know. Correction. A random stranger that's friends with your Biology teacher.

Suddenly, the door creaked open a little and CeCe's head popped in trough the crack. "Oh, are we late?" The door was opened the rest of the way to reveal CeCe and Sam. "Told ya Sam! We aren't totally late! It looks like Stevie isn't even here yet," CeCe smiled, while Sam grumbled at the mention of Stevie's name. "What's up everybody?"

Kara looked over at Hay Lin and noticed that she was turning pale. Hay Lin was like staring at CeCe. It was actually really creepy. She looked over at Hay Lin again and saw her normally cheerful face. Kara shook her head. _I must be dreaming._ She then smiled, waving towards CeCe and Sam. "Not much. What about you? And hey, what's up with the baseball cap, CeCe? New fashion statement?"

"A baseball cap? A fashion statement? You've got to be kidding me!" A voice from the doorway said. Kara turned around and saw that it was none other than Stevie.

"So you actually came," Sam growled, while glaring at her fiercely. _I wonder what's up with those two._

"Yeah, I did... Got a problem with it, bi-"

"Whoa, okay! Stop!" Mrs. Vandom yelled. "That's enough girls!" Mrs. Vandom put a hand on her head like she had a major migraine, which was understandable. "Now, you're probably wondering who these people are and why you're here." All of us nodded. "Okay, so first I'll introduce you all to who's here." She pointed to herself. "As you all know, I'm Mrs. Vandom, but you can call me Will outside of school."

The brown haired person sitting on the armchair stood up. "Pleased to meet you guys. My name's Irma." Afterwards, Irma did a play soldier salute. "Welcome to the army, soldiers," she said in a gruff voice.

Kara smiled and did a play soldier salute back. "Thank you, sergeant," she said in a gruff voice, too.

"Great, another Irma. Just what we need," the blond woman on the couch mumbled. She flipped her hair. "By the way, I'm Cornelia."

The other girl on the couch shyly waved their hand. "And hi, I'm Taranee. It's nice to meet you."

"And I'm Hay Lin, as some of you already know. I love drawing and Earth! It's such a wonderful place, isn't it?" Hay Lin ran to Stevie and Sam and gave them hugs. Next, she gave CeCe a big hard lingering hug. It was like Hay Lin didn't want to let go, which was really awkward for Kara and probably CeCe, too.

"C-Can't b-breathe," CeCe gasped from the enormous hug.

Hay Lin let go of CeCe. "Sorry," Hay Lin said apologetically. Silence ensued until Kara broke it.

"Soooooo... Why are we here? Is it because of grades? Because I'd like to say that my grades aren't horrible in Biology..."

Mrs. Vandom... Errrr... Will smiled. "No Kara, it's not, but you seriously need to take a look at those grades. They're not that great."

Kara waved her hands in a 'yeah whatever' sort of way. "Oh, well... Now may you tell us why we're here?"

Will nodded. "Sit down first girls, and let us tell you an amazing story." Cornelia and Taranee got off of the couch and let Stevie, Kara, and AJ sit on the couch. Irma got up from the armchair, and CeCe and Sam rushed to sit in it.

Once everyone had sat down except for W.I.T.C.H., who were standing in front of the kids, Will started her incredible tale. "Once upon a time, a long time ago when Earth was still young, everyone lived under  
the same sky. The whole universe was like one big peaceful kingdom."

"Then, the creatures and spirits started to feel hate and the universe was split between those who wanted peace and those who wanted to live at other's suffering," Cornelia said sadly.

"All of the bad creatures and spirits were sent to a world, a world called Metamoor," Taranee added.

"And of course, what's an evil creature infested world without an evil prince?" Irma sarcastically said.

"Yeah, an evil psychopath prince named Phobos," Hay Lin mentioned nonchalantly. "Of course, we kicked his butt to jail multiple times, but it seems like he just keeps coming back. It's really annoying actually."

"Wait, wait. What do you mean you guys kicked his butt to jail? Are you guys undercover police officers or something?" Kara questioned.

Irma put one of her fingers up to her mouth. "Please save all questions until the end of the story. Thank you."

"Okay, now as we were saying. But before the universe was split into two parts by a magical veil, a place of calmness, pureness, and serenity was born in the middle of infinity. A place by the name of Kandrakar," Will said.

"What do you think of this story?" Kara whispered to Stevie, rather rudely.

"I think it's full of baloney. What do you think?" Stevie whispered back to Kara.

"I'm not sure," Kara whispered.

"Guarding Kandarkar are some really powerful spirits and creatures, including the Guardians," Cornelia piped up.

"The who what?" AJ inquired.

"The Guardians," Cornelia continued. "They protect the universe and the veil. Of course, we used to be the Guardians back in the day, but now... Well, we're getting older and our time is running out."

"The worlds need new Guardians," Taranee said. "The worlds need you."

"The worlds? Us? Guardians? Kandrakar? Veils? What the heck are you talking about?" Stevie yelled.

"We're talking about the truth," Will replied. "We're talking about your destiny as the new Guardians of the Veil."

"What's the veil?" CeCe asked, really confused.

"The veil is the thing that used to separate our reality from other realities, but eventually, it was lowered by Kandrakar," Hay Lin explained.

"So why are they called the Guardians of the Veil? I mean if the veil doesn't exist anymore, it doesn't really make any sense," Sam said.

Hay Lin put a finger on her chin. "I don't really know why. Hmmmmmmm..."

"Anyways, we need to finish the story," Will said. "Okay, so Phobos -"

"The evil psychopath prince," Irma added.

Will sighed. "Yes, Irma, Phobos, the evil psychopath prince, used to rule Metamoor with an iron fist. He was cruel to his people and relentless, so of course, the Guardians were sent in to remove him from the throne and bring in the rightful heir, Phobos's sister."

"Yup, Elyon Brown, one of my best friends. So long story short, we defeated Phobos, put Elyon back on the throne, and everything was basically like a happily ever after," Cornelia finished.

Stevie stood up from her place on the couch. "Are you kidding me!? That's your really important story!? That's why we're here!? What a load of junk!" Stevie hollered.

"Stevie, maybe you should calm down," CeCe suggested nervously.

Stevie turned and glared at CeCe. "Quiet geek!" CeCe immediately dropped her head down with tears coming out of her eyes.

Sam angrily got up after seeing CeCe's tears, grabbed Stevie by the collar of her short V neck shirt, and slammed her against the closest bare wall. "Why'd you have to go and do that huh!? You already caused her enough pain for today and now you have to push the envelope by saying that!? What's wrong with you!?" Sam screamed, bringing her arm back.

As Sam was about to punch Stevie in the face, CeCe grabbed her arm. "Stop," CeCe said calmly with dried tears on her face. "You promised."

Sam tightened her fist. "Right," she said still angry at Stevie. She swiftly turned around, walked over to the armchair, and sat down in her seat. CeCe followed, and Stevie eventually sat back down in her seat, too.

And as this all played out, W.I.T.C.H. watched it all, worried about the future of the universe. Will they be able to stick together and save the universe? Or will they end up tearing each other apart instead?

"So moving on... What you're saying is that we're the new Guardians," Kara asked, twirling some of her dark brown hair in between her fingers.

"Yup, destined to save the universe with this," Will said, holding up the Heart of Kandrakar.

Looks of realization and recognition came upon the teens' faces. "That's the jewel from my dreams!" CeCe shouted, pointing at the pink jewel.

"No way! It was in my dream, too!" Sam yelled astonished.

"And mine!" AJ added. "Was it in your guys' dreams, too?" AJ questioned Kara and Stevie. They both nodded their heads.

"So we all had dreams about a piece of pink jewelry. What's that mean?" Kara inquired. "And what is that?"

Taranee pointed at the jewel. "That is the Heart of Kandrakar. And having dreams about it pretty much proves that you guys are definitely the new Guardians."

Stevie got up, but quickly sat down when Sam glared at her. "Okay, so assuming that this whole Guardian thing is true," Stevie started. "How are we supposed to protect ourselves from the bad dudes? I mean I am not that great at fighting, and I wouldn't want to get a chipped nail."

"Well, of course you've got a way to protect yourselves! I mean, what's a superhero without superpowers?" Irma asked, smiling.

CeCe's eyes lit up even though no one could see them from under her baseball cap. "So we have superpowers?"

Hay Lin smiled. "Yup! You sure do! The powers of nature!"

"The powers of nature?" AJ questioned.

"Yeah, pretty much," Will said, walking over to Kara. When Will got right in front of Kara, she looked at the Heart of Kandrakar and saw the sign for water. "Kara, you have the flowing gift of water." Kara smiled, suddenly feeling the flowing water in Mrs. Vandom's house's water pipes as Will moved on to the next person.

"Stevie, you have the strong gift of earth." Stevie closed her eyes as she felt a very, very small but strong earthquake move under her feet.

"Sam, you have the difficult gift of fire." Sam relaxed her body, feeling the intense heat the fire in the fireplace was giving off.

"CeCe, you have the graceful gift of air." CeCe giggled as she felt a gentle wind caress her face.

"But what about AJ? I mean that's the four elements, right? It's not like there's five elements or something," Kara inquired.

"And AJ, you have the most powerful gift of all. The gift of quintessence." AJ could suddenly feel the powerful static in the room.

"I stand corrected," Kara mumbled quietly.

"What's quintessence?" Stevie asked.

Will smiled. "Quintessence is life, and with it, you also get the ability to talk to electronics, throw lightning bolts, and bring stuff to life."

"That sounds so cool!" CeCe exclaimed excitedly.

Will smirked. "That's because it is." Will's smirk disappeared. "But with it, also comes a great burden. The burden of being leader of the Guardians."

AJ's eyes widened. "You don't mean -"

Will nodded sadly. "Yes, I do. You, AJ, must unite and lead the Guardians into the battle started thousands of years ago, but do not worry, for you are not alone."

Taranee smiled. "Yeah, that's right. You have best friends to back you up."

"And of course, the Heart of Kandrakar, which unites you all and transforms you into the Guardians!" Cornelia said.

"And you also have Kandarkar and us to help you, too!" Hay Lin piped up.

Will put the heart into AJ's hands. "So here is the Heart of Kandrakar. Do lead well AJ. The fates of the worlds rest in your hands now."

AJ shook her head, shoving the heart back into Will's hands. "I'm sorry, but I can't. This is just too weird and freaky. I just can't," AJ said, getting up from the couch and moving towards the door.

"Wait! AJ!" Will shouted. AJ stopped and turned around. "At least take the heart with you, and remember, nobody is allowed to know about this whole Guardian thing." AJ nodded, took the heart, and was out the door.

"Well, that was just great," Irma sarcastically said, waving her arms around. But while she was swinging her arms around, she accidentally knocked off CeCe's hat. CeCe immediately put it back on, but Hay Lin had seen what she was trying to hide.

Hay Lin gasped. "What happened to your eye?"

Everyone turned to look at CeCe. CeCe fidgeted a little and said, "Uhhhhhh... Nothing. Why?"

Hay Lin walked over to CeCe and tried to take her hat off, but it was hard because CeCe was holding it down.

_Plop!_

But in the end, Hay Lin managed to pry off the hat off of CeCe's head. Everyone except for CeCe and Sam gasped as they looked at CeCe's enormous black eye.

"Now seriously, what happened!?" Hay Lin asked, a little harder this time.

CeCe bent her head down. "I - I -" she stuttered.

"Don't want to talk about it," Sam finished for CeCe.

Suddenly, Will got an idea. "It - It wasn't your parents, was it?" she asked worriedly.

CeCe's eyes widened dramatically. "No way! It wasn't them!" she yelled. Her voice got quieter. "It - It was..."

"Who!?" Cornelia questioned.

"ItwasStevie," CeCe mumbled.

Hay Lin's eyes widened from hearing that statement, which she heard thanks to her powers. She looked over to Stevie, but noticed that she wasn't in her place on the couch.

"What?" Taranee inquired.

"ItwasStevie," CeCe mumbled again, except this time, a little louder.

"What?" Kara asked.

"It was Stevie, people! Stevie is the one who punched CeCe in the face!" Sam yelled, getting tired of people asking who did it.

Everyone turned to look at Stevie, but she wasn't on her spot on the couch. "Where'd she go?" Kara questioned, looking around the room.

"She must have slipped out when we weren't looking," Irma stated.

CeCe looked at her dark purple watch, and a look of surprise came upon her face. "Speaking of slipping out, we better split! It's almost time for the Sheffield Halloween party!" She got up and started to head for the door.

Sam and Kara got up, looked at the clock in the living room, and then, started to walk towards the door, too.

"Don't forget! No one can know about this Guardian stuff! Got it?" Will hollered.

"Okay, and bye, Mrs. Vandom!" Kara shouted on her way out.

"Yeah, see you on Monday!" Sam added, leaving the house.

"Yup, and nice meeting you guys!" CeCe piped in, waving goodbye on her way out with her baseball cap tilted back on her head.

"Whoa, what a bunch," Irma said, watching the teens leave the yard.

Hay Lin giggled. "Yeah, the universe's only hope."

"So they better unite soon," Taranee stated, pushing her glasses back onto the bridge of her nose.

"And get along with each other," Cornelia replied.

"Because their shared destiny has just begun," Will sighed, staring at the door that the new Guardians had just left through.

* * *

Thanks for reading! Thanks to Charmed Aura for adding this story to Favorites/Follows, and thanks to C. J. Selgas for reviewing! :)


	10. Chapter 10

10

Disclaimer: I do NOT own W.I.T.C.H.

* * *

_Leader._

AJ sighed as she thought of that word. She was no leader, at least not since the accident. The accident that ruined someone's life, and she was the leader, the captain of the team, but she failed. She couldn't stop the clash; she couldn't prevent it. She felt like she couldn't do anything. It was her horrible mistake, but she didn't pay the price. No, someone else did, and she felt a terrible guilt. A guilt that she thought she had left behind when she moved. A guilt that she had forgotten of until she was handed the burden of leader again.

And now, AJ was leader of the Guardians, the protectors of the universe, the defenders of worlds, and the most important warriors in the battle that started thousands of years ago. She had to come up with the plans, the decisions, and the escapes. She had to lead her friends into dangerous battles to possibly their deaths. She shuddered. _Don't think about that, AJ. We all know you won't let that happen. You'll stop it this time. You'll succeed. Besides, you have kick butt powers now. What could go wrong?_

AJ frowned. _Lots of things could go wrong. Our powers could go wacky, we could lose our powers in the middle of a battle, or our powers could turn on us. Yeah, just like on TV where the protagonists have to face their responsibilities, their fears, their burdens, and or their powers. _Suddenly, the Heart of Kandrakar in her pocket felt like a giant piece of lead. It was like it was getting heavier and heavier.

"Mooooooooo!"

AJ jumped 100 feet into the air. She turned around and glared at a... Cow?

The black and white cow tilted its head. "Moo?"

A puzzled look came upon AJ's face. _What the heck is a cow doing in a school? _AJ looked past the cow to see everyone dancing in their Halloween costumes, not even noticing a cow standing in the middle of the school gym. She gazed up and saw the giant orange banner above the temporary stage that read, "Sheffield Institute Halloween Party!"

"Go away cow. Shoo," AJ said slightly annoyed.

The cow didn't move.

"C'mon cow, leave before someone notices you," AJ said more annoyed while pointing towards the exit.

Then, the cow started to quietly giggle. Soon enough, the small giggling turned into roaring laughter. AJ looked closer at the cow and noticed that its eyes didn't blink! In fact, its eyes didn't even move! They just stared at one spot!

"Who's in that cow costume!?" AJ snapped.

"Relax, AJ," the voice coming from within the cow costume replied. "It's just Sam and CeCe."

"Sam? CeCe? Why are you guys dressed like a cow?" AJ asked, stifling a small laugh.

"For Halloween," CeCe said. The voice sounded like it was coming from the back of the cow.

AJ did a face palm. "Well, no duh! What I mean is why did you guys chose to dress up as a cow?"

"You know that's like asking why you're dressed as a basketball player," Sam said coolly. Sam's voice sounded like it was coming from the head of the cow

AJ looked down at her costume of a brown pair of basketball shorts and a white sleeveless basketball top with the number 7. "Well, that's easy," AJ replied. "That's because I love basketball!"

"Well, then our answer is easier, too!" CeCe exclaimed. "It's because I love cows!"

"Yeah, and I got dragged into this costume, too," San mumbled.

"Hey, this outfit needed two people, and you're the only person I could think of," CeCe said. "Besides, at least you're in the front! I'm the butt of the cow!"

"Good point," Sam said. "But it still feels weird and awkward!"

"What's so dull, my trusty bull?"

AJ turned around to see Kara dressed as a cowgirl. She was wearing an aqua blue plaid shirt, blue jeans, and a brown cowboy hat. Her short dark hair was in two pigtails, and she was also wearing her signature brown cowboy boots.

"Hey, Kara!" AJ said, hugging the cowgirl. "I haven't seen you for, well... An hour! Nice outfit by the way."

Kara smiled and said, "Howdy, AJ! Thanks and nice shorts to you, too! This is my trusty bull, CeCe Sam!"

If you could see through the cow head part of the costume, you probably would've seen Sam glaring at Kara. "CeCe Sam. Really, Kara? That's the best you could do?"

Kara put her hands up in surrender. "Hey, it was short notice. Besides, why the cow? And who's in the front?"

"I'm in the front," Sam said. "CeCe's in the back, and why does everyone ask that?"

"Ask what?" Kara questioned confused.

"Ask why they chose the cow," AJ replied.

"Oh yeah," Kara said. She looked towards the cow. "So why?"

"Well, like we explained to AJ earlier, the cow is CeCe's favorite animal," Sam explained.

"Yup," CeCe confirmed. "Cows are cute, adorable, nice, amazing, wonderful, and just plain awesome."

"Talking about me again?"

AJ looked over towards the voice and saw Stevie standing there in her... Swimsuit? Anyways, it was a red two piece bikini with a plus sign on the bottom half. It was rather revealing. Stevie was also wearing sunglasses, and her nose was unusually pale white sort of like she was Rudolph, the white nose reindeer. Well, if Rudolph had a white nose instead of red. Plus, her hair was up, and she was carrying a skinny red float thing that had a plus on it, too.

"How can you wear that!?" Sam questioned astonished. AJ was pretty sure Sam was glaring at Stevie from inside the oversized costume, and AJ couldn't blame her. She herself was giving Stevie the glare. "It's almost freezing temperatures outside!"

"Yeah, you must be freezing your plus off," Kara added in.

"So you're a lifeguard?" AJ inquired, raising an eyebrow.

"I wish I could see anything, but this darkness," CeCe murmured.

"Yup," Stevie replied. "The whole cheer squad and football team decided to be life guards." And sure enough, as AJ looked around the room, she noticed a lot of people dressed up as lifeguards just like Stevie.

"Sounds great," CeCe said. "If only I could see what was happening."

Everyone laughed. "Wow, CeCe. Why did you choose to be the back of the cow, if you knew you probably wouldn't be able to see?" AJ asked.

"I didn't choose to be the butt of the cow! It's because I'm shorter than Sam. Stupid shortness!" CeCe grumbled. In the corner of her eye, AJ saw Stevie flinch slightly at the word 'stupid'.

"Well, maybe someday you'll grow taller than everybody, CeCe," AJ encouraged. "You never know."

There was a silent pause.

Then, AJ piped up. "Well, I have to go to the bathroom, so I'll be right back, guys." And with that AJ walked off to the bathroom.

* * *

CeCe could've sworn that she was sweating more than a cow could've possibly sweated in its entire life. _Man, is it hot in here. I think I'm going to be the first person to die because of excessive sweating. I mean why did I ever come up with this idea?_

"Guys, how long has AJ been gone?" Kara questioned worriedly.

CeCe lifted her watch to her face from within her costume, and pressed a button on it, so it glowed in the dark. "It's been about ten minutes," she said calmly.

"Ten minutes!" Kara shouted. CeCe imagined that not a lot of people turned around to stare at them because the music was so loud.

"Maybe we should go check on her," Sam suggested.

"Yeah, that sounds like a good idea. I mean maybe she could be in trouble," Kara mentioned.

CeCe turned pale at what Stevie said. _AJ? In trouble? Oh crud! My dream!_ "Guys, we need to find AJ now!" CeCe yelled, undoing the costume enough, so her and Sam could move on their own. Now, Sam still looked like a cow, except she didn't have a tail. CeCe looked like a cow from the waist down. She was wearing suspenders that looked like cow legs and waist with a tail and was wearing a white T shirt underneath the suspenders.

"Wait, why the hurry? It could just be that she's taking forever or something, uh, personal," Stevie asked CeCe.

"I'll tell you on the way. We need to hurry," CeCe replied, shoving everyone to move. Once the group started to sprint towards the bathroom, CeCe started to tell them of her dream.

* * *

AJ had never been so scared in her entire life. She always thought of herself as a fearless person. In fact, even when she was little, she was never really scared of anything. Not the Boogieman, monsters under the bed, bugs, scary animals, the dark, or her closet. She was always a brave fearless person, but that all changed when she encountered this snake monster.

And boy was this snake monster a humongous monster! It had a giant snake tail, rippling muscles, two muscular arms, long white hair, and was a nasty green color. Surrounding its orange inhuman eyes was a mask of red. It had pointy ears and even pointier teeth.

When AJ came out of the bathroom, she was whistling, feeling very relieved. She was in an awesome mood... Well, until she was grabbed and her hands were pinned behind her back.

"What the -" AJ started, but her perpetrator covered her mouth with his hand.

AJ, of course, started to panic a little, but mostly stayed calm. First, she stomped on the person's foot, and next bit the person's hand that was covering her mouth.

"Son of a bi#%*!" they screamed, immediately letting go of her. AJ took this moment as a chance to run away from him. She smiled. _I'm so glad my parents made me take a self-defense class now._

As AJ was running, she looked back behind her to see if the man was following her, but when she looked back, her face turned to one of shock and horror for the man had disappeared, and in his place was a hideous huge snake monster man thingy.

AJ let out a stifled scream and then, started to sprint up the stairs to the next floor, praying that she wouldn't be turned into snake chow.

* * *

"She's not in here!" Stevie yelled, after checking under all of the bathroom stalls.

"She's got to be!" Kara shouted after checking the gym locker bays.

"Maybe we missed her leaving the bathroom," Sam suggested after checking the athletic locker bays.

"But we should've seen her if she left," CeCe added in coming out of the shower area.

"Maybe she left the bathroom and went back to the dance without us seeing her. I mean there's multiple ways into the gym you know," Sam replied.

"Yeah, Sam has a good point you know, CeCe. Maybe she went into the gym without us noticing us," Stevie agreed. "Besides, your dream was just that, a dream."

"But -" CeCe started.

"No buts, CeCe. Dreams aren't real. They don't come true. They're just figments of your imagination," Stevie interrupted.

Kara sighed. "Stevie's right on this one, C. I know it's hard to believe, but dreams aren't premonitions. They're just dreams. Nothing more, nothing less."

"Yeah, but this one is different!" CeCe protested. "It - It felt so real! It was like I was actually there, but I wasn't. It was so weird!" CeCe looked over towards Sam. "You believe me don't you, Sam?"

Sam shook her head, causing CeCe's head to droop. "CeCe, I can't believe I'm saying this, but Stevie's right." Stevie gained a smug look on her face, but made it disappear when Sam sent a fierce glare her way. "Listen, CeCe. There's no green snake man that's out to get AJ, and AJ's not going to fall off of the roof of school. It's just unrealistic and doesn't make any sense."

"Like how we were chosen to be the new guardians?" CeCe said with slight anger that her best friend, Sam, didn't believe her. "Like magic? Like the whole world? Sure, none of it makes sense, but you just have to trust it. You have to believe, for believing is seeing."

There was silence for a few seconds until Stevie burst into laughter. "Wow," she said wiping a tear from her right eye. "That had to be the corniest thing I've ever heard in my life!"

Sam growled at Stevie, and then, sighed defeatedly. "Fine, let's just go check out CeCe's dream real quick to show her that it isn't real, so we can get on with the dance. Okay?"

CeCe smiled. "Okay."

Stevie rolled her eyes. "Fine. Let's get this over with it."

Kara nodded. "Okay." She smiled goofily. "Let's go snake hunting."

* * *

_Thump!_

AJ banged against the trapdoor with her shoulder.

_Thump!_

AJ growled. _Come on, stupid door. Open! _She banged against it harder, for not far behind her was the snake man thing.

_Thump!_

Without warning, the door burst open, and AJ popped onto the floor of the bell tower. She looked around frantically, silently freaking out. _What have I gotten myself into? _

Suddenly, the trapdoor exploded open with dust and smoke flying everywhere. _Uh oh._ AJ's eyes widened and she started to instinctively move backwards away from the door. When her back hit the railing, she gasped as she started to sweat a little. _Oh, crap. Oh, crap. Oh, crap._

When the dust cleared, standing in front of her was the snake monster!

"Wh-What do you want?" AJ stuttered trying to put on a brave face, but she was pretty sure it was failing. _Great, I'm trapped in a corner with nowhere to go. I'm a cornered animal._

The creature glared at her. "Give me the Heart of Kandrakar!" it howled. A look of realization crossed her face. _The Heart of Kandrakar? This thing wants the Heart? _She reached inside her shorts pocket and held the heart. _Maybe I should give it to him, so he'll leave me alone. _

Then, Cornelia's words rang through her head: _And of course, the Heart of Kandrakar, which unites you all and transforms you into the Guardians!_

_So the Heart of Kandrakar must be the guardians' power source. I can't just give this thing a bunch of power. He's evil! _AJ took her hand out of her pocket and looked back at the creature.

"I-I don't have it."

"Liar!" the creature hissed and rushed forward to attack AJ.

As the creature swung its enormous tail at her, she jumped backwards onto the railing to dodge the attack. Next, it tried to punch her in the gut, but AJ was too quick for him. She moved quickly to the left and managed to avoid the punch, losing her balance a little. Unfortunately, that moment of weakness was all that the monster needed, for it swiftly grabbed her by the neck, choking her. AJ started to really panic.

"Now give me what I came for, you wretched little girl," the creature growled. Afterwards, it moved AJ over the railing of the roof. "Or I'll throw you off of this roof."

AJ knew exactly what she had to do. She knew that she could not give this villain the Heart. She would not make another mistake that hurt others. She was prepared to give up her life to save others. _Goodbye Harris. Goodbye Mom and Dad. Goodbye Mrs. Vandom and her friends. And goodbye Kara, CeCe, Sam, and Stevie. You were all great friends._

"N-Nev-ver," AJ choked out, struggling against its hold on her.

"Ssssssso be it," he hissed, letting to of AJ.

As AJ was screaming and falling, she felt sudden energy run through her and instinctually grabbed the Heart of Kandrakar from her pocket. Then, she yelled the first two words that came to her mind.

"Guardians unite!"

* * *

A/N: Thanks for reading! And thanks to Weirdraptor for putting this story on their Favorites/Follows! :)


	11. Chapter 11

11

Disclaimer: I do NOT own W.I.T.C.H. or Spiderman.

* * *

"Hurry up, guys!"

Kara wheezed as she was rushed up the stairs by CeCe. "Can we like slow down, CeCe?" Kara asked, breathing really heavily.

"No!" CeCe replied looking back over her shoulder. "We can't! AJ might need us!"

Kara sighed as she ran up some more stairs. _Great. Another gym class. Just what I need. _

"Just for the record," Stevie said as she raced up some stairs. "I still think this is pointless. I mean we'll run our way all the way up here just to find an empty roof, and it'll turn out that AJ was downstairs partying without us this whole entire time."

"Yeah, but we've got to at least check," Sam added. "For Cece's sake. Besides, you owe her."

Stevie rolled her eyes. "Yeah, yeah. I know. Let's just get this over with..." Stevie trailed off as her eyes basically bugged out of her face. "Wha- Wha-What!?" She paled.

"Oh no," CeCe murmured. "We're too late."

Kara gasped as she looked upon the splinters of what used to be the trapdoor that led up to the roof. _Maybe CeCe was right. Maybe her dream was real._

"Let's go guys," CeCe said, more determined and fearless than Kara had ever seen her be. CeCe rushed up the last few steps and gasped loudly. "Oh my gosh."

The rest of the group followed CeCe up the steps and onto the roof. "Holy cow!" Sam yelled flabbergasted. "It's real!"

The snake creature turned around and hissed at them. "Who are you?"

Kara was too speechless (for once in her life) to say anything. She just stood there frozen in fear and shock, staring at the giant snake person in front of her. _It's exactly as CeCe described it, except more hideous and horrible in person._

Stevie (if possible) paled even more with her mouth hanging open. Then, she closed her mouth and looked around. "Where's AJ?"

Suddenly, a voice was heard in the distance. A voice that screamed two words. A voice that belonged to AJ. "Guardians unite!"

Afterwards, everything changed. Four different colored light beams rocketed over the railing and towards the girls. An ocean blue beam flew over to a wiped out Kara and surrounded her in a sphere of blue. A silver white beam zoomed towards a scared CeCe and enveloped CeCe in a cocoon of gray, while a light yellow green beam raced to a pale Stevie and encircled her in an orb of chartreuse green, and a red orange beam darted over to a shocked Sam and engulfed her in a ball of the color of fire.

Within the spheres, the girls changed and transformed into something different. Something magical and new. They transformed into the guardians!

"The guardiansssssssss!" the surprised snake creature hissed. "But how!? The guardianssssssssss are old women now!"

"Hey!" Kara shouted, feeling the ground under her feet again. "We're not that old! We're 14! Thank you very much!"

CeCe gasped and shook Kara's arm. "Uh, Kara. I think you might want to look again."

"What are you talking about, CeCe?" Kara asked, glancing towards CeCe, who was folding her arms across her chest, but when Kara did, her eyes widened and she gasped. _Whoa. What the heck!?_

This CeCe was not the one standing there five minutes ago. This CeCe was taller, and not dressed like a cow. The normally more covered CeCe was wearing a small teal cropped top with sleeves that curled around her shoulders and a pair of green and turquoise socks. She was also wearing a knee length skirt with two slits on the sides, which revealed most of her legs, and a purple beaded cord that acted as a waistband for her. Upon her feet were some purple Mary Janes, and her hair was still in her normal ponytail. But the most surprising thing of all was that she looked older. Some of her flatter planes had become curvier and her face just looked older. She looked like she was at least 18!

"Hey, CeCe!" Kara said, getting CeCe's attention. "Your black eye is gone!"

"Really?" CeCe asked excitedly.

"Yeah, it is," Kara replied.

"Awesome!"

Speaking of age, in fact, all of them look older. Kara looked over to Stevie, who was checking her newly transformed self out. Stevie was wearing a teal midriff top that had long sleeves that formed a triangle-shape on the back of her hand and an adequately long purple skirt that's opened at the side. She was also sporting green and turquoise striped tights and high, high heeled boots. Her hair still retained its size and blondness.

Next, Kara's vision drifted off to Sam, who was still in a state of shock because of all of this. Sam was wearing something that was sort of like a turtleneck cropped top and tight teal shorts with matching wristbands. Kara was surprised that Sam wasn't strangling Stevie or anything, seeing as they were standing right next to each other. She was also dressed in a pair of green and turquoise tights and purple hiking boots. Sam's usually long wavy fire red hair was the same, except that it looked even wavier.

Finally, Kara decided to check herself out. She was sporting a teal, slightly of the shoulder, long sleeved top and turquoise and green tights. She was also dressed in a purple mini skirt with a small opening in the side and ankle high shoes. Kara felt her dark hair and noticed that it was longer, but still in a bob.

Kara glanced at everyone again, smiled widely, and shouted, "Wow! We're smoking hot!"

"Yay," CeCe sarcastically mumbled with her arms still folded over her front chest. _I guess CeCe is really self-conscious nowadays. _Kara then remembered the time in 3rd grade when CeCe showed everyone in their class the orange neon basketball shorts she was wearing underneath her yellow flowery dress. _Of course, the CeCe didn't really know any better back then and nothing was shown, but still, that was very not self-concious._

"How'd we get like this?" Stevie questioned. "Not that I'm complaining. I mean look at what we've got in front of us!" she said, referring to her breast area.

"I don't know, Stevie," Sam replied, not glaring at Stevie, which Kara thought was a miracle. "It all happened so fast, but I think I vaguely remember someone yelling before this happened."

In the corner of her eye, Kara could see the snake creature rush towards them, while Sam and Stevie were talking to each other. "Uh, guys?" Kara started. Stevie, CeCe, and Sam turned to look at her. "Mr. Ugly is heading towards us," she said, pointing towards the creature, which was getting closer and closer by the second.

"I got it!" Sam yelled. She held up her hand and a fireball appeared in it. It was about the size of a tennis ball. She then threw it towards the monster. The creature stopped as the fireball was about to hit it, but unfortunately, the fireball dispersed before reaching its goal. "Or not."

"You know that would've been a great attack," Stevie commented. "If it had actually worked."

Sam sharply turned towards Stevie with fire in her eyes. "Well, let's see you do something, Miss Snob!"

Stevie smirked. "My pleasure, Miss Nerd." She then threw up her arms and a wall of earth came out of the ground, blocking the creature's path. "Ha!" she said in triumph.

Sam laughed. "You better look again, Miss Snob." Stevie turned around, only to watch the monster run around the wall.

"Uh oh," Stevie said.

Kara rolled her eyes. "Now it's my turn up to bat." She stepped in front of Stevie and Sam. "Water!" she hollered, sending a water blast towards the beast. Kara smiled at her work. She was positive the water blast was pretty powerful because she could feel the power she put into it and boy, was it a lot. "See, look at that. A perfect -" Her mouth fell open as her attack missed her target and hit the railing behind it.

"Now look who's talking!" Stevie added smiling, but frowned with fear as the creature brought its tail back to whack them.

"Air!" Suddenly, the creature was sent flying to the other side of the roof thanks to one CeCe Ridgewood.

Sam and CeCe gave each other high-fives. "Nice job, CeCe!" Sam complimented.

"Thanks!" CeCe replied. Without warning, a sudden pang of sadness hit Kara. _I wish CeCe, Sam, and I were still best friends forever, like we were in elementary school._ Kara sighed. _I wish I hadn't made the biggest mistake of my life by following Rush. _

"Hey, look at that! We've got wings!" CeCe shouted happily, dragging Kara out of her own thoughts.

Kara shook her head. "You just now noticed that, CeCe?" she asked.

CeCe nodded sheepishly, folding her arms over her chest again. "Well, yeah."

Sam put a finger on her chin. "But wait, if we have wings, doesn't that mean that we can -"

"Fly? Yes, it does."

"AJ!" Kara, Sam, CeCe, and Stevie all screamed, rushing to their friend.

"You're alive!" Kara yelled excitedly. She couldn't believe it! They thought AJ had perished when she fell off of the roof, but she hadn't. In fact, she looked fine and healthy.

"Yeah, I am," AJ said, landing on the roof.

Stevie smiled. "Nice outfit." Kara looked over AJ's guardian look. She was dressed in a purple cropped top with long bell-shaped sleeves and of course, green and turquoise striped tights. _What's with all the turquoise and green striped tights? It must be a guardian thing._ AJ was also sporting a blue mini skirt and purple boots just below her knees. Plus, her usually naturally curly light brown hair became more curly and longer, and just like the rest of them, she looked older.

"Yeah, but I wish that I didn't have to wear this skirt," AJ replied, looking down at her skirt.

"So we can fly, huh?" Sam inquired.

Yeah, and you'll never guess what happened!" AJ mentioned.

"What?" CeCe questioned curiously.

"Well," AJ started. "As I was falling, for I was sure was my death, I felt a sudden rush of energy and instinctually grabbed the Hear in my pocket. Then, I yelled 'Guardians Unite!' and a bunch of different colored light beams flew out of the piece of jewelry. I got hit with the pink light beam, and it felt amazing! I felt safe and powerful. It was just awesome! When I emerged from the light, I noticed that I had changed into something new, but that's also when I realized that I was just floating there in front of school. Of course, I started to panic because I was floating, and that's, well, that's impossible. But that's when I realized that it _was_ possible. Mrs. Vandom's story is possible, our powers are possible, evil is possible, the fact that other worlds exist too is possible, and our destiny as the next Guardians is possible. It's all possible and most likely true."

Kara, Sam, CeCe, and Stevie nodded, understanding what she meant. _Maybe we were fated to be Guardians. I mean sure we have our differences, flaws, and baggage, but I just know that we can pull through it and unite. Unite together as the Guardians._

"Speaking of evil," Kara said, glancing around. "Where's Mr. Ugly?"

The girls looked around too to find the snake creature gone. "Looks like he escaped while we were talking," Sam replied.

"So what now?" CeCe asked nervously.

"Now we go talk to our teacher," AJ said confidently. She eyed the giant stone wall in the middle of the roof. "But first we might want to fix that wall."

Stevie sighed. "Fine." She held her hands up and very, very slowly lowered the wall. When the wall was gone and you couldn't even tell that there was one in the roof, she said, "There you go."

AJ smiled. "Perfect. Now we just have to change back." She took the heart out from under her shirt and focused on it. Soon enough, the heart glowed and the girls were returned to their normal forms.

"Back to normal," CeCe sighed happily.

"Yeah, it's great to be back to normal," AJ agreed. "Now to Mrs. Vandom's house."

* * *

Sam was literally freaking out. She couldn't believe that it was all real! When Mrs. Vandom and her friends were telling that story about magic, worlds, and Guardians, she didn't believe any of that. She just couldn't. It went against everything she knew and every piece of research that she'd known. The story, it seemed like a fairy tale to her. A fictional piece of writing. Something someone came up with. Something fake and false.

But now it had all changed. When Sam first saw that snake creature, she was shocked to the core. It was like her grip on reality was fading. She just couldn't believe that it was real. That it existed. And when those light beams had hit them and transformed them, it was like her mind had exploded.

_A dream_, she had thought. _This is only a dream._

But unfortunately, no matter how many times Sam had pinched herself, she didn't wake up. She was still there, older and wearing different exposing clothes with wings. Wings. People aren't supposed to have wings!

Of course, she tried play off her shock by just going along with it, but it was still hard, and when that fireball appeared in her hand, man, she felt like she was going to faint on the spot. Normal people don't throw fireballs either.

And then it hit her. Her friends and she weren't normal people. They were Guardians of the Veil. They protected the universe and defended a mysterious fortress called Kandrakar. They controlled the elements of nature. Energy, water, earth, air, and fire. Fire, the element she controlled. The element she could make appear in the palm of her hand. An element that can burn down trees, houses, and even people. A powerful element that was difficult to control and put out.

_When did my life become so confusing and complicated?_

"Hey, Sam!" CeCe shouted bubbly. "What are you doing?"

"Oh, just thinking," Sam said, not entirely focused on what she was doing.

Silence.

"Uh, Sam?" CeCe asked.

"Yeah?"

"Mrs. Vandom's house is this way."

Sam focused her eyes and realized that she was heading away from their destination house. "Oh, right. Thanks." She ran to catch up with CeCe. The group had decided to split up into smaller groups for some weird reason that she didn't really know. _I must've been daydreaming during that discussion, or else I would've totally objected to that idea. I mean what if the snake creature came back?_

"No problem. So, uh, a penny for your thoughts?"

Sam sighed. "Just thinking about this whole Guardian thing."

"Yeah, it's a lot to take in, isn't it?"

"Yep, you bet. I mean before all of this, I didn't even think about the possibility of superpowers, magic, and other worlds. It all was just so far away. Like out of the grasp of existence."

"It seemed like it, didn't it? But to be honest, I always secretly believed that magic was real. That other worlds existed. In fact, I still do, especially now that _we_ ourselves have superpowers and magic. I mean it's so incredible!"

"Yeah, but with having great powers, comes great responsibility."

"You ripped that off of Spiderman!"

"Yes, but it's true, isn't it?"

CeCe nodded her head. "I guess so. I mean because we have this great power, we'll also have the responsibilities of Guardians. We'll have to protect different worlds, do good deeds, and defeat baddies... That's a lot of responsibilities, but it'll be fun."

"Fun like defeating that ugly snake monster creature thing?"

"Exactly." CeCe and Sam laughed until they heard an icy voice behind them.

"Ssssssssssso I'm ugly, huh?"

CeCe and Sam froze in their tracks. They slowly turned around to find the giant snake creature behind them.

"Run!" Sam screamed, running off towards the right into the woods with CeCe right behind her.

"You won't be getting away from me that easssssssily," it hissed, slithering after them too fast for Sam's taste.

As they were jumping over fallen logs and dodging trees, Sam tried to conjure up a fireball that she could hurl at the creature, who was starting to really gain on them. Unfortunately, the biggest thing of fire that she could conjure was a fireball the size of a green pea that dispersed five seconds after she had made it.

"Aw, c'mon!" Sam mumbled angrily, getting really frustrated. She tried again, but with no success. Sam growled as her anger grew. _I must be less powerful when I'm not transformed._ She quickly looked over her shoulder to see if the creature was gaining, but that was a mistake for she didn't see the giant log in front of her, so she tripped doing a face-plant on some cold moistened leaves. In the process, her head hit a humongous, hard rock causing Sam to gasp and feel tears in her eyes as a burning sensation flared in her scalp. She couldn't see CeCe anymore.

"Oh crap. Oh, crap. Oh, crap," Sam cursed under her breath, quickly picking herself up, but as soon as she got up, she was rammed into a nearby oak tree by an enormous scaly tail. She screamed as the throbbing of her head increased. Her body collapsed onto the ground. She moaned as she felt someone grab her ankle and start to drag her towards them. She glanced over her shoulder (which caused her a great deal of pain) to see the snake creature gripping her ankle with some kind of mystical swirling blue vortex in the background.

"No!" Sam mumbled, feeling more horrible by the second. She felt the snake creature yank her off of the ground and over its shoulder. Then, she started to bang on its muscly, scaly back with her weak fists. "CeCe!" she whispered desperately as warm red blood oozed out of her head injury and ran down her face. The throbbing of her head was unbearable at this point as her eyelids fluttered closed.

The last thing Sam heard before she completely blacked out was CeCe's voice screaming in the cold, dark Halloween night.

"Sam!? Sam!? Nooooooooooooooooo!"

* * *

A/N: The new guardians' clothes are pretty much the same as W.I.T.C.H.'s guardian clothes. Thanks for reading! Thanks to WatDat for adding this story to their Favorites/Follows! :)


	12. Chapter 12

12

Disclaimer: I do NOT own W.I.T.C.H.

* * *

CeCe had just gotten to Mrs. Vandom's house when she silently walked over to her couch in the living room and sat down, trying to be strong.

AJ smiled and asked, "Where's Sam?"

And that's when CeCe just broke down. She rolled up into a ball on the couch and just started sobbing. It was like a waterfall of tears was coming out of her red puffy eyes.

Everything was silent (except for her loud sobs), and she felt everyone's stares drill through her back. "What's wrong, CeCe?" CeCe heard Kara ask with worry in her voice.

"A-All (sob) m-my (sob) f-fault (sob)," CeCe sobbed. She felt someone sit next to her on the couch, and she threw her arms around them, crying her heart out onto their sky blue top, making it damp with her tears. CeCe didn't care who it was; she just needed someone to cry on. She was heartbroken and filled with grief and guilt.

"I-I (sob) c-can't (sob)," CeCe started, but the person she was crying on shushed her.

"It's okay. Just let it all out," a voice CeCe recognized as Hay Lin's cooed. "Everything's going to be fine." Not to be mean or anything, but CeCe wanted to scream in Hay Lin's face. She wanted to scream that everything wasn't going to be alright, that nothing would ever be alright again. Sam was gone, and it was all CeCe's fault. _I let her down. I should've been the one captured, not her. I should've stayed with her and noticed her absence sooner. I should've run faster. I should've tried harder, but I didn't._ A new wave of sobs came upon CeCe as she realized that she had failed her best friend.

"C'mon guys," CeCe heard Taranee say. "Let's go into the kitchen and give CeCe some space." She heard some grumbling, protesting, and shuffling, but eventually it became quiet except for her crying and sniffling.

"I-I'm (sniff) s-sorry," CeCe sniffled after about 15 minutes of sobbing.

"It's okay," Hay Lin replied softly, rubbing CeCe's back. "Now do you feel well enough to tell us what happened? We really want to help."

"Uh, (sniff) I guess (sniff) so," CeCe said, lifting her tear streaked face off of Hay Lin's, now damp, top. "Sorry about (sniff) your shirt."

Hay Lin laughed. "Don't worry about it. The top was old anyways. Do you want me to call for the others to come in?"

CeCe nodded my head. "Thanks."

Hay Lin smiled. "No problem." She looked towards the door. "You guys can come in now."

The first people to emerge from the doorway were AJ and Kara. Concern and worry was written all over their faces as they rushed to CeCe's side. "Are you feeling better now, CeCe?" Kara questioned quietly.

"Yeah," CeCe replied, wiping her nose.

"That's a relief," AJ added. "We were so worried about you."

Stevie calmly strutted into the room. "Yep, so worried when you started crying like a baby."

Kara quickly turned around to glare Stevie. She clenched her teeth. "Shut up before I -"

"No," CeCe interrupted, blowing her nose into the tissue that Mrs. Vandom had handed her earlier. "Stevie's right. I (sniff) should've quit my crying earlier (sniff) and started getting down to (sniff) business. Every minute I'm wasting (sniff) here is an extra minute added to Sam's (sniff) suffering. S-Sam, she's (sniff) gone. She was captured by that snake (sniff) creature." And it was all my fault.

"Snake creature?" Irma inquired, entering the room with Taranee, Cornelia, Mrs. Vandom, and three men CeCe didn't know right behind her. "Is it really ugly, part human, buff, a slimy green color, humongous, and have unbelievably sharp teeth?"

Kara, Stevie, AJ, and CeCe nodded. "Yeah, how'd you know?" AJ asked curiously.

"Because we've encountered him before during our days as the Guardians," Cornelia answered. "His name is Cedric."

"Though he should be pretty old," Hay Lin added. "It's been what? 40 years?"

"Yes, it has been, so did he look old?" the man with chocolate brown hair and brown eyes questioned.

The teens looked quizzically at him. "Who are you again?" Stevie piped in.

"Oh right, you haven't met the guys yet..." Mrs. Vandom trailed off.

"Well, I'm Matt," the man with chocolate brown hair and brown eyes said, waving towards the teens. "Will's husband. Nice to meet you."

"My name's Nigel," the man with light brown hair and brown eyes said, flashing the teens a smile. "And I'm Taranee's husband. Pleased to meet ya."

"And I'm Caleb," the man with medium brown hair and green eyes said, shaking each of the teens' hands. "Cornelia's husband. It's an honor to meet you."

"Uh, thanks," AJ replied nervously. "And to answer your question, I don't know. I was too busy getting grabbed and attacked to notice if snake guy was old or not." She shrugged, "Sorry." Next, she turned towards a still very depressed CeCe. "So, CeCe, may you please tell us exactly what happened to Sam?"

CeCe grimaced. "Do I have to?"

AJ nodded. "I'm sorry CeCe, but we really need to know what happened."

"And don't forget a single detail," Kara added.

"Yeah, because every detail counts," Cornelia piped in.

"And the most meaningless detail could be the most important," Taranee advised.

CeCe sighed. "Okay, so on our way to Mrs. Vandom's house -"

Mrs. Vandom interrupted. "I really insist that you call me Will outside of school, guys."

CeCe nodded. "Okay, so on our way to Will's house after we split up, the snake creature appeared behind us, so we darted off into the woods, hoping to get away from our pursuer..."

(Flashback)

CeCe sweating and panting hard. Her heart was racing, and her muscles aching. Her breath was wheezing, and she felt exhausted. _I wish I was better at endurance and running._ Sure CeCe wasn't the worst runner ever, but she wasn't exactly the best either. She always thought herself as an average runner, getting about 9 minutes and 30 seconds on her last timed mile.

After a couple of minutes of jumping, weaving, dodging, and running, CeCe began to laugh, realizing that they had shook the snake creature off of their tracks.

"That was a close one, huh Sam?" CeCe asked, slowing down to a light jog.

No answer.

CeCe turned around, and noticed that Sam wasn't there. _Where is she? _She looked all around her, but didn't see Sam.

CeCe started to panic. "Sam!? Sam!?" Still no answer. "Sammmmmm!?"

Suddenly, CeCe heard someone cursing.

"Oh crap. Oh crap. Oh crap," they cussed. CeCe wasn't sure how she had heard them from so far away, but she was pretty sure that it had something to do with her thing with air. Without warning, a horrible scream pierced the air, making CeCe cover her ears. _What was that?_ Then, it hit her. That was Sam's scream! She must be in trouble!

"I'm coming, Sam!" CeCe yelled, turning on her heel and sprinting towards her fallen friend. As she was running, all of the worst possible scenarios she could think of raced through her head. _What if that horrifying creature caught Sam? What if they're torturing her? What if they're beating her? What if -? No CeCe, stop right there. Sam's fine. She probably just stepped on a very pointy stick or something and screamed very loudly. Or maybe Adam is bothering her again. Yeah, that's it. It's just Adam. _

CeCe smiled as she thought of the awkward teen. Adam had a huge crush on Sam for the past 6 years, and Sam knew it, though she didn't really like it. She just thought of him as an annoying but nice friend that followed her everywhere. Sure it was kind of mean, but it was true.

"No!" CeCe heard Sam mumble, jolting her out of her thoughts. "CeCe!"

"Almost there, Sam," CeCe whispered. "Just hold -" She gasped. There Sam was! And her head was bleeding! And she was slung over the snake creature's back, heading into that weird blue swirling vortex! CeCe panicked, but then, she made a split-second decision to sprint and jump through the vortex after them.

"Sam!? Sam!?" CeCe screamed, running faster. The snake creature glanced over its shoulder with a smirk on its hideous face as it stepped through the vortex; eventually, they disappeared completely. "Noooooooooooo!"

50 feet. CeCe was pushed into full out sprint mode, running faster than she had ever run in her life.

40 feet. Her panic meter reached its max as the blue portal began to close itself.

30 feet. Her heart raced so quickly that she felt like it was going to explode at any minute.

20 feet. Her muscles burned and ached more and more as she got closer and closer to the thing separating her and her best friend forever.

10 feet. Her breath became ragged and hard as she felt her stomach jump into her mouth.

3 feet. CeCe dived for the portal hoping to make it, but unfortunately, it closed before she could even touch it.

"Dang it!" CeCe hollered angrily from the cold, damp of floor of leaves. "No! No! Noooooooooooo!"

Suddenly, her dinner came up through her throat and out of her mouth onto the only patch of grass that poked above the leaves that she could see.

CeCe moaned. "Ugh, I do not feel good," she groaned. Then she remembered that Sam was gone and alone with that thing. And that it was all her fault.

CeCe sobbed. "I-I-It's (sob) a-all my (sob) f-fault!" she cried out. "I-I'm (sob) s-such a (sob) f-failure!" She curled up into a ball and cried. She just laid there crying and crying and crying, feeling horrible, sad, desperate, angry, guilty, and most of all, lonely.

And that's where CeCe stayed until she felt that she needed to tell the others, so together they could save their captured friend as fast as possible.

_I can do it._ CeCe got up from the floor of the woods, wiping her tears away with her arm. _And I will do it. For Sam._

(End of Flashback)

"So Sam and Mr. Ugly went through a fold, huh?" Irma asked after CeCe had recounted her frightening story.

Kara laughed. "So you're asking CeCe if the snake monster took Sam to a cattle pen?"

Hay Lin chuckled. "No, sweetie, not that kind of fold. These kinds of folds are basically whitish bluish vortex portals to other worlds and dimensions."

CeCe paled. "S-So you're saying that Sam could be alone with that thing in another dimension?"

Hay Lin frowned as she realized what her words meant. "Oh, well, yeah." CeCe's features saddened, so Hay Lin quickly added, "But don't worry. We'll find her and bring her home safely." She smiled. "You can count on it, right guys?"

"You know it, Hay Hay. We've got this one in the bag," Irma replied, smiling widely.

"We'll save her, CeCe," Cornelia said, putting a comforting hand on CeCe's shoulder.

"Don't worry," Taranee added in, pushing her glasses back up onto the bridge of her nose. _Just like Sam used to do before she was captured._ "We can do this."

"Yeah, you don't have to do save her on your own," Caleb said.

"Because you've got us to back you up," Nigel pitched in.

"And we'll do everything we can to help," Matt said.

"And you've got your fellow guardians/friends to back you up, too," Will said. "Friendship is a powerful bond."

"Okay," Stevie said awkwardly. "So are we going to seriously save Sam or what?"

"Yup, and when we do, we'll be turning Mr. Ugly into a nice pair of expensive boots," Kara said, cracking her knuckles with a smirk on her face. "You can guarantee it."

The corners of CeCe's lips turned up into a small smile. "Thanks guys. It means a lot."

"You're welcome, and don't worry. We will save Sam. No matter what," AJ replied determinedly.

Then, without warning, CeCe heard a voice speak in her mind.

_It's all her fault, _the voice in CeCe's head said. _She split you guys up and now Sam's gone. It's not your fault; it's hers. She's the reason Sam is gone. _

Suddenly, something snapped in CeCe, and she jumped up from the couch and sprinted out the door. She ran and ran until she got to a particular tree that was riddled with a small amount of blood. _Maybe it is AJ's fault. It was her plan to split up and go to Will's house in two different groups. It was her plan that got Sam captured. It was her plan that caused me to carry this tremendous guilt. It was her plan that caused these problems. In fact, it is her fault._

"CeCe, are you okay?" a voice behind her asked worriedly. _Oh, great. It's her._

"What kind of question is that!? Does she look okay to you!?" Kara snapped, walking up to CeCe. She embraced her in a comforting hug.

"You're right," AJ said. "What's wrong, CeCe?"

CeCe couldn't take it. She shook off Kara's hug and sharply turned around. "What's wrong!? What's wrong!? Oh I'll tell you what's wrong! Sam's gone, and it's all your fault! It was your plan to walk to Will's house in different groups, and look at what happened! Sam's captured by that thing and they're in some other dimension! My best friend is all alone and probably scared, and you ask, 'What's wrong?' What's wrong with you!?" she barked frustrated, her eyes full of anger and hardness.

Stevie's and Kara's mouths dropped open shocked at CeCe's sudden anger, while AJ's eyes widened, hurt and sad.

"CeCe, I -" AJ started as a few tears ran down her face. "You're right. It is my fault. I let you guys down, and I'm sorry."

CeCe's eyes softened. "No, I'm sorry for snapping at you. It just hurts knowing that one of your best friends is alone and fearful with an evil snake creature in another dimension. It hurts and makes you want to blame other people for your own mistakes, and I'm really sorry. Sorry for blaming you, AJ, and sorry that you guys had to see me like that."

AJ smiled, wiping away her tears. "Thanks, CeCe."

"Awwwwwwww," Kara cooed happily. "Hug it out guys. Just hug it out." AJ and CeCe laughed and gave each other giant hugs.

Stevie rolled her eyes. "Shouldn't we be heading back? The sooner we get this over with, the sooner I can go home and get some rest. A girl needs her beauty sleep after all."

"Yeah, and it looks like you don't get any," Kara teased, giggling along with CeCe and AJ.

"Well, then," Stevie replied, folding her arms over her chest and with her nose in the air. And of course, Kara couldn't resist the chance to mimic these movements, causing CeCe and AJ to giggle even harder. "Hey!" Stevie exclaimed, seeing Kara mimic her. Afterwards, she sighed in defeat. "Okay, okay. Ha ha, very funny. Now let's go."

"Okay, Miss Party-Pooper, we're going, we're going," Kara said, holding her hands up in defense as she started heading back to the house.

"Good," Stevie replied, lightly pushing CeCe and AJ in the direction of the house. "Let's go."

And with that, the friends headed back to Will's house, feeling better and happier.

* * *

"What!? A double!? You've got to be kidding me!"

"Well, we're not kidding because when a member of the team goes missing, a double is needed," Will said.

"Or an astral drop," Taranee added.

"An astral drop!?" Stevie asked exasperated. "What the heck is that!?" The group had just arrived to Will's house after CeCe's leave and were talking about how to cover Sam's sudden disappearance, which was not going so well.

"An astral drop is an exact copy of a real person. They can breathe, move, speak, and etc. just like a real person, except they're a little, errrrrrr... off. They don't feel emotions or have the original person's memories. They're pretty unintelligent, too," Hay Lin explained.

"Wow, sounds just like Stevie," Kara quipped.

Stevie growled. _When will she quit? _

AJ stepped in between the two. "Okay, so how do we conjure one?"

"You hold the Heart, concentrate, and say, 'Spord Lartsa.'," Cornelia said.

"Hey!" CeCe exclaimed. "That's astral drops backwards!"

Will nodded. "Yeah, it is. It's actually pretty clever when you think about it."

"Okay, so let's do this, guys," AJ said, taking charge. She held out her enclosed hand with the Heart in it. Eventually, CeCe, Stevie, and Kara followed suit by putting their hands on top of AJ's.

"Good. Now, concentrate on Sam," Taranee advised. All of the new guardians closed their eyes and focused on Sam.

"Spord Lartsa," AJ said calmly. Suddenly, the Heart lit up so bright that everyone closed their eyes. When the light had dimmed down some, they all opened their eyes.

"Oh my gosh," CeCe said flabbergasted at the sight before her.

"Holy cow," Kara muttered surprised.

"It looks just like her," AJ commented shocked.

"I know right," Stevie said her eyes wide. "I can't believe it."

"Well, you better believe it because standing before you is Astral Drop Sam!" Irma exclaimed.

Stevie's mouth dropped open_. It's unbelievable! A copy of Sam Diamond! It even looks exactly like her. The same annoyingly long wavy red hair and light green eyes. Her fair skin is the same and the copy even has that freckle that's right underneath her left eye! It's amazing how alike they are._

"So this is our stand-in Sam, right?" CeCe questioned as the Astral Drop Sam started to poke the silver vase that was sitting on a pedestal in the corner of the room.

Matt nodded. "Yeah, pretty much. But don't worry about it too much. With a few notecards, this stand-in Sam will be a lot like the real Sam."

"Oh, so you have to write notecards for the astr-" Kara started, but was rudely interrupted by a hand covering her mouth.

"Don't say those words!" Irma demanded, removing her hand from Kara's mouth. "Because if you do, the stand-in will disappear."

"Say what words?" CeCe inquired. "Astr-" But she was also rudely interrupted by a hand covering her mouth.

"Yes, those words," Hay Lin replied, removing her hand from CeCe's mouth. "And before anyone else attempts to say those words, I'll spell it out for you." She grabbed a nearby purple pen from off of the coffee table and began to furiously scribble on her hand. Seconds later, she put the pen down and held up her hand. "If you say these words, the stand-ins will disappear." Stevie squinted her eyes to see the words and read them.

_Astral Drops,_ it read.

"Okay, so you say, 'Spord Lartsa' to make stand-ins appear and what is written on Hay Lin's hand to make them disappear. Right?" Stevie concluded.

W.I.T.C.H. nodded. "That's exactly how it works," Taranee stated. "But for the stand-ins to actually somewhat act like the person they're standing in for, they'll need some notecards on her how to act."

"Okay, so first card, 'Act intelligent'," AJ scribbled on a notecard Will had just brought to the table.

"Yo, stand-in Sam!" Kara yelled causing the Astral Drop Sam to move her attention from the vase to Kara. "Say something smart!"

Astral Drop Sam poked the vase. "Shiny."

Kara face palmed herself. "Oh, boy. Looks like we've got some work to do."

"No kidding," CeCe said. "So, Hay Lin?"

"Yes?" Hay Lin questioned.

"You were the former air guardian, right?" CeCe replied.

"Yes."

"So have you ever had dreams that came true?"

Hay Lin's eyes widened slightly. "Yes, I have. It's an air guardian power. Sometimes you have dreams that feel very real. It feels like you're actually there and it can get pretty intense. Then, they come true."

"That sounds exactly like my dream!"

"You had a premonition dream?" Cornelia asked curiously.

"Yeah, I had a dream one night of that Cedric dude attacking AJ and dropping her off of the roof of the school. I was there, but I couldn't do anything. I just sort phased through everything; it was horrible, and tonight at the party, my dream came true! It was actually pretty cool, but not cool at the same time. You know what I mean?" CeCe rambled.

"Uh, sure," Hay Lin replied, confused.

"Okay, so since we know you definitely have this power," Caleb started. "You should probably tell us whenever you have another premonition dream."

CeCe nodded and smiled, making thumbs-up signs with her hands. "Got it."

"Wait," Nigel said. He pointed to AJ. "You fell off of the roof of Sheffield Institute?"

AJ grinned sheepishly. "Yeah."

"Oh."

"So do we all have more powers besides our powers over the elements?" Stevie randomly asked, slightly jealous about CeCe's premonition dream powers.

"Of course you guys do," Will answered. "AJ, you also have the power to talk to electronics and the power to make inanimate objects come to life."

AJ made a peace sign with her right hand and grinned. "Cool."

"Kara," Irma said. "Along with your amazing aquatic gift, you have the power to do some mild mind control."

"Really?" Kara questioned. When Irma nodded her head, Kara did a fist pump in the world. "Yes!" She rubbed her hands together mischievously, while staring at Stevie. "And I know exactly who to use it on first."

Stevie gulped. "Hey!"

"Anyways," Cornelia started. "You, Stevie, have telekinesis in addition to you power over earth, plants, and earth materials."

Stevie flipped her hair and turned towards Kara. "And I know exactly who to fling across the room first."

This time it was Kara's time to gulp as Stevie put on a triumphant smirk.

"And finally, you, CeCe," Hay Lin said smiling greatly. "can turn invisible whenever you want to. Well, almost whenever you want to. You probably shouldn't do it in public though."

"Awesome!" CeCe exclaimed, flashing her pearly white teeth in a huge smile.

"So are we going to learn how to activate and use them?" Kara asked excited to learn about her powers, which was surprising to Stevie because she always thought of Kara as not really the student type. _More like the annoying jokester type._

Matt glanced at the clock hanging in the living room. "Maybe tomorrow, guys. It's getting kind of late, don't you think?"

"Yeah, Matt's right," Nigel agreed. "The girls should be getting home pretty soon."

"Oh," AJ said, sort of sad to leave.

"But we haven't even told you guys what happened at school," Kara whined.

"It could be important," CeCe pitched in.

Will sighed. "Okay, you can tell us, but right afterwards, you guys need to start heading home."

"Wait!" Caleb said. "What about Cedric? What if he goes after one of the girls?"

"I doubt he'll come back. I mean he's already got one of them," Taranee replied. CeCe visually saddened.

"But we'll get her back," Cornelia said, making CeCe perk back up a little. "Everything will be alright." CeCe smiled a little.

"Okay," Irma said. "Now let's hear this fantastic adventure of yours."

AJ grimaced, remembering what had happened earlier that night. "It all started when I..."

* * *

Sam woke up to find herself chained to a wooden chair. Her hands were chained behind her back and to the wall behind her and the chair, while her feet were chained to the floor. Her head was still throbbing but not as much as it was earlier, and the ankle that the snake creature had grabbed was burning. She felt sick and terrible, especially as she felt the dried blood on her face from her head wound. She groaned. _Ugh, what did I get myself into?_ She glanced around and noticed that she was in some kind of jail cell. The only light source was a dim hanging light right above her. _On second thought, how am I going to get myself out of this one?_

Sam sighed. _Don't just sit there, Sam. Think of a way to get out of here!_ She wiggled in the chair, trying to loosen the bonds, but to no prevail. _Well, this isn't working._ She glanced around the dark cell again, seeing nothing useful. _My powers!_ She looked down. _Of course! The wooden chair! I can just burn my way out of here! _She felt her hands heat up as she thought of sweet freedom. As she thought of her family and friends. As she thought of her title of Fire Guardian.

"Oh, I wouldn't do that if I were you."

Sam's hands cooled as she looked up at a mysterious hooded figure standing before her. "Who are you, and what do you want?" she said coldly.

"Oh, me? I'm just your captor. I had Mr. Cedric bring you here. Of course, I would've preferred the Quintessence Guardian or the Air Guardian, but beggars can't be choosers, now can they?"

Sam growled. _Who's this Mr. Cedric? And what the heck did he mean by saying that he would've preferred AJ or CeCe? What do they have that he wants?_

"Oh, I can see the gears turning in that little head of yours. You've got questions, right? Like whom Mr. Cedric is?"

Sam's mouth dropped open. _How did this person know what she was thinking? It was like he was reading her mind._

"Well, I'll tell you. Mr. Cedric is actually just Cedric, and he's the guy who brought you here. He's the snake dude."

Sam internally gasped. (She didn't need the hooded figure to know that he was surprising her.) _So even snake creatures have names. _

"Anyways, you can burn that chair if you want, but it won't do anything for you. This entire cell and those chains you're wearing are made of a special material that's pretty much heat proof. The only things you'll get out of burning that chair are a pile of ashes and losing a decent place to sit. I mean it's better than the cold stone floor, am I right?"

"Don't tell me what to do," Sam spat. How could she trust this guy? He was the bad guy. Besides, this person was giving off numerous bad vibes to her.

The hooded figure shrugged. "Suit yourself. Activities start in an hour," he said, walking off into the darkness.

Sam frowned. _Activities? That doesn't sound good._ "Wait!" she yelled from her bound position in the shabby wooden chair. "What activities?"

"Oh, you'll see," he said cooly. Sam shivered. She had a feeling that the figure was smiling under his hood. "You'll all see."

And with that the hooded figure left, leaving a bound Sam to dwindle in her own thoughts.

* * *

A/N: Thanks for reading! :)


	13. Chapter 13

13

Disclaimer: I do NOT own W.I.T.C.H.

* * *

AJ was tired. She struggled to keep her eyelids open as she wearily walked to the Heatherfield Park. She yawned. _Man, I'm exhausted. I wonder why CeCe called an emergency meeting at the park this morning. I mean it's 7 o'clock in the morning for pete's sake!_ She yawned again. _I hope it's something really important. Maybe it's another premonition dream._ AJ frowned. _What if it's a premonition dream of one of them dying or something? What if it's a premonition dream about Sam or something? _She sagged her shoulders. _Sam; I really let her down. CeCe's right. It is my fault that Sam was captured. It's just like the accident all over again, and even though we made up, I know deep inside that it's my fault. I mean it was my plan after all. It was my stupid plan to split up. What was I thinking? I should've figured that Cedric would show up again after he disappeared. CeCe and Sam were pretty much sitting ducks. Ugh! How did I come up with that insane plan?_ A light bulb went off in AJ's head. The voice! The voice inside my head whispered that plan to me!

(Flashback)

_Split up,_ the voice's words rang in her mind. _Split up the group. It's the only way to safely get to Will's house._

_But what about going there together?_ AJ argued mentally to the voice inside her head.

_Think about it. The snake creature attacked you! He wants you for what you possess. If you split away from the group, then they will be protected._

_But if we stay together, then we'll be more powerful and we'll be able to defeat the snake creature._

_But how do you know you'll be able to beat it? _

_We beat him earlier._

_That was sheer luck. You can't guarantee that you'll be able to defeat him if he appears again._

_I know we can do it,_ AJ mentally said determined.

_Look at them, _the voice mentally countered. AJ glanced ahead of herself to see CeCe, Kara, Sam, and Stevie laughing and talking to each other as they went down the stairs of Sheffield Institute. _Are you willing to take that chance? Are you? Are you willing to let another accident happen? Just like the one that happened last time?_

AJ sagged her shoulders. _I-I don't know._

_You're willing to risk the lives of your friends/fellow guardians just to save yourself? How selfish! What kind of leader are you!?_

_I-I don't know!_ AJ screamed mentally.

_A not very good one, I'll give you that. You're a selfish, terrible leader! You don't deserve to be leader of the Guardians! You don't deserve the Heart of Kandrakar!_

Small, unnoticeable tears sprang to AJ's eyes. _Shut up, _she whispered mentally. _Shut the heck up!_

_Hey, don't tell me to shut up because I'm just telling the truth here. It's your problem! I was just trying to help come up with a solution, which I did. My solution is to split up into groups to go to Will's house, but hey, it you want to get your friends killed, then that's totally up to you._

_Wait! I'm sorry! I-I don't want my friends to get killed. I'm just trying to do my best as leader._

_Yeah, and that's good, but trying and succeeding are two different things. Do you really want to succeed?_

_Yes, more than anything._

_Then, follow my advice, and you'll be the best leader of the Guardians ever. It's the only way._

_Okay, so split up the group to go to Will's house?_

It was like the voice was smiling. _Yes, split up the group._

(End of Flashback)

"Hey, AJ. I'm so glad you showed up."

AJ glanced up to see CeCe as she was snapped out of her thoughts. "Oh, yeah. No problem, CeCe. So what's the situation?"

CeCe melancholy frowned. "I-I want to tell you guys all at once. I mean I don't want to have to say it multiple -"

"Hey, CeCe! What's so important!? You know that if I don't get my sleep, I can get pretty cranky," Kara interrupted, appearing from behind AJ and CeCe.

"Yeah, and if I don't get my beauty sleep, things can get pretty ugly," Stevie added, walking up to the group alongside Kara.

"Listen guys, I'm sorry, but I just didn't think that this could wait until later," CeCe said nervously. "It's really -"

"Hey, CeCe," a voice interrupted from behind them. "And Kara, Stevie, and AJ."

AJ swiftly turned around, ready to punch someone's face (in case it was Cedric), but stopped when she saw a lanky teen instead. It was a boy, and he had short dark hair, brown eyes, and fair skin. He was sporting jeans, a T-shirt, a camo jacket with worn out tennis shoes, and a huge smile. _I wonder who this guy is._

"Oh, uh, hi Jay," CeCe smiled, slightly annoyed that she keeps getting cut off. "Um, AJ, you haven't met Jay yet, right?"

AJ shook her head. "I don't think so."

"Oh, well, this is Jay. Jay, this is AJ, but you already knew that," CeCe introduced.

They shook hands. "It's nice to meet you," AJ said nicely.

"Nice to meet you, too," Jay replied.

"Okay, okay. Not that this isn't nice or anything, but we've got to go. Got that, Jay? See you later," Kara interjected, pulling AJ and Stevie with her out of the park. "Are you coming, CeCe?"

"Just one second," she yelled.

As AJ was getting pulled out of the park, she just had to ask. "What's the deal with him and CeCe?"

Kara let go of AJ's and Stevie's arms, so they could walk out of the park together. "Oh, yeah. CeCe and Jay dated for a while at the beginning of the school year, but CeCe broke it off. I'm not exactly sure why, but now they're just friends."

"Oh, that's cool..."

Kara nodded. "Yeah, he's her first boyfriend."

Suddenly, CeCe came up from behind them. "Sorry guys that it took a while. I didn't think that it'd take that long. Okay, so anyways, where was I?"

"Something about something being really...," Kara responded.

"Important," CeCe finished. "It's really important. Thanks Kara for reminding me."

"You're welcome."

"Anyways, I-I had a dream premonition about Sam."

Kara, Stevie, and AJ gasped as a million questions ran through AJ's head. _Is Sam okay? What are they doing to her? Is she dead? Is she hurt? Are they planning to kill her? AJ started to sweat. What the heck is happening to Sam?_

"So is Sam okay?" Kara questioned worriedly with her eyes wide.

"What do you think!?" Stevie interjected loudly. "She's flipping captured by the bad guys and you're asking if she's okay!?"

"Guys, maybe we should have this conversation elsewhere," CeCe whispered to them, glancing at the people watching them. She looked towards the curious people sheepishly. "They're just... Uh... Acting! Yes, they're acting out an act! For a, uh, play! Yeah, they're acting out an act for a play! So, um, nothing to see here." The people shrugged and turned back around to whatever they were doing before.

"Hey!" Kara yelled back at Stevie, completely ignoring CeCe. "I'm just asking if she's okay or not because I care about her and other people! Unlike some selfish people named you!"

Stevie looked hurt for a second, but then her expression turned angry. "How dare you! Who the heck do you think you are! You little -"

"Okay! That's enough!" AJ shouted. "We're never going to get anything done with you two constantly fighting! So cut it out because we've got bigger problems to worry about! Got it!?" Kara and Stevie nodded slowly. "Okay, good, so CeCe, please continue."

"Oh, right, so uh, like I was saying before I-I had a dream premonition about Sam, and she was not doing well. Her f-face had dried blood on it and there were bruises and cuts everywhere on her. Some hooded figure was beating her! It was terrible, just watching it and not being able to do anything about it. I-I-I...," CeCe trailed off, tears springing to her eyes.

AJ put a comforting hand on CeCe's shoulder. "It's gonna be okay, CeCe. We'll get Sam back. Now did anyone in your dream premonition say anything about a place? Maybe a city or street. Maybe even a country."

CeCe nodded her head. "Metamoor. The hooded figure said that they were in Metamoor."

* * *

"Phobos! Get your face over here now!" the hooded figure growled, trying to put out the small flame on the side of their cloak.

"Whoa, someone's pretty angry," Phobos teased, appearing behind them. "And very burnt."

"Yeah, that little fire brat keeps burning me. It's getting really annoying, but luckily, I have to do something else right now, so you'll be the one getting burnt."

A confused look appeared on Phobos's face. "What do you mean?"

"I mean you like hurting people right?" the hooded figure asked, finally putting out the fire.

"Yes, I do. Very much."

"Well, what about hurting a new guardian? She's not transformed, so she's not exactly mega powerful. It should be relatively safe as long as you're careful."

"Ooh, that sounds fun. So when do I start? And what's the point of beating her again?"

The hooded figure shrugged. "Why? Just to let some anger out I guess. I mean I've got huge bowls of vengeance to serve up to different people. And when can you start? You can start now if you want," they said nonchalantly. Suddenly, they grabbed Phobos by the neck and looked right into his eyes. "But if you kill her or take advantage of her, I'll find out and personally cut off each of your limbs, one at a time until you're dead. Got it?" Phobos nodded, and the hooded figure let go of his neck, letting him fall to the ground, breathing heavily. "Okay, so while you do that, I'll be recruiting some new people to our little circle."

"Some more people?" Phobos questioned, still breathing a little heavily. "You already emptied the entire Meridian prison. What more people do you need?"

"Oh trust me; we'll need as many people as we can get to destroy Kandrakar and its guardians. We'll need a lot of people, so do you have any good ideas?"

Phobos shook his head, now breathing evenly. "No. I don't."

"Hmmmmmmmmmmmm...," the hooded figure said. Afterwards, they snapped their fingers triumphantly as if a light bulb lit up in their head. "I've got it! The perfect ally!" They turned to Phobos. "Do you know where the Meridian knight Julian lives?"

Phobos smiled, understanding what they were talking about. "Oh, I know exactly where he lives."

* * *

"Metamoor? As in the place that evil was banished to?" AJ asked, leaning against the fence near the entrance of the park.

"Of course," Kara commented, leaning against a nearby tree. "If she wasn't in the capital of all evil, then it would be way too easy."

Stevie frowned, not leaning against anything for the fear of ruining her outfit. "But didn't Will say that Metamoor was now ruled by a good queen?"

"Yeah, but that doesn't mean that the whole planet is necessarily good," CeCe replied, sitting on a giant rock next to Kara.

"That's a good point," AJ pointed out. "Just because a world is ruled by a good person, doesn't mean that the whole place is good. It's sort of like lights and shadows. Where there is light, there is also shadow. It's pretty much the same concept. Where there's good, there's bad. Get what I mean?"

"Yup, but we're just going to assume that this Metamoor is the same Metamoor as in the story?" Stevie inquired skeptically.

"Well, yeah because that's all we've got to go on here, Steve. Do you have any better ideas?" Kara responded.

"Of course," Stevie said. "How about you stop calling me Steve! I'm a girl, you know!"

"Are you sure about that?"

"Okay, so what are we going to do now?" AJ interjected before anything could explode.

"I think we should go to Metamoor now," CeCe suggested. "To look for Sam."

Stevie rolled her eyes. "Oh, that's a great idea, CeCe," she said sarcastically.

"What's that supposed to mean, Stevie?" CeCe asked annoyed, crossing her arms over her chest.

"It means that I think that that's a horrible idea. I mean think about it. The person in your dream just told you where they were. Doesn't that scream trap to anyone here?"

"That's a good point," CeCe said thoughtfully. "But I think we should still go. Sam's counting on us."

"Yeah, but us getting killed or captured isn't really going to do her any good either, you know," Stevie countered. "Besides, even if it isn't a trap, the person only mentioned a world. Looking for one person in a giant world is going to be hard."

"It's like looking for a needle in an evil haystack," Kara quipped.

"Exactly," Stevie summed up.

"So what are you saying we do? Sit around while Sam suffers?" CeCe questioned.

Stevie shook her head. "Of course not. We'd just wait until we've had some training with our powers and talked to W.I.T.C.H. They are the experts here."

"But -"

"No buts, CeCe. I think Stevie's right. The best option here is to wait, train with our powers, talk to W.I.T.C.H., and then go find Sam," AJ explained. "Okay?"

"No! This is not okay!" Kara interrupted. "Sam's our best friend, and you're just going to let her be tortured longer? What the heck!? I bet that if you guys were the ones captured, then you would want us to rescue you as soon as possible! Well, treat others the way you want to be treated!"

"Yeah, but I'm not risking you guys getting hurt or killed, Kara! I don't want to lose another friend! Got it!?" AJ snapped.

Silence.

"Okay," CeCe replied. "We got it. We'll do it your way. Right Kara?"

"Fine," Kara grumbled unhappily. "Whatever, Ms. Leader." Suddenly, she visibly perked up. "So AJ, what are you doing today before we go over to Will's?"

"Um, I'm going over to Sheffield Institute to try out for the girls' basketball team. Why? What are you doing today?" AJ asked suspiciously.

"Oh, I was thinking about hanging out with CeCe today. So what do you say, C? Do you wanna hang out with me today?"

"Uh, sure. Okay," CeCe said. "I mean I don't really have anything planned for today, so why not?"

"That's the spirit!" Kara exclaimed happily, grabbing CeCe's arm. "Let's go!"

"Okay," CeCe laughed as she was dragged out of the park by Kara. "See you later guys!" She waved goodbye and disappeared out of the park.

"So what are you doing later?" AJ inquired, turning towards Stevie.

"Duh, I'm going to the mall to go shopping," Stevie answered, flipping her hair. "So I better get going. I don't want to be too fashionably late. You know what I mean?"

"Oh, okay. See you later this afternoon. Have fun shopping." AJ waved and ran out of the park to Sheffield Institute to prepare for her midday try outs.

* * *

"What are you doing Kara?" CeCe questioned as she and Kara were walking through the full city streets of Heatherfield.

"Don't you mean what we're doing? Because that one is a more accurate question," Kara replied calmly.

"Okay, then what are we doing?"

"We're going to school!"

"School? Why are we going to school? I mean there's not really anything there except the basketball tryouts." CeCe's eyes widened. "Wait, we're not trying out for the basketball team, are we?"

Kara shook her head. "Of course not. You know how bad I am at sports, especially basketball. We're just going to pick something up. That's all. It's no biggie."

"Oh, okay. I guess. So what are we picking up?"

"Just this little thing called the Heart of Kandrakar," Kara said nonchalantly like she was just picking up a notebook from her locker.

CeCe's mouth was hanging open. "What!?"

Kara rolled her eyes. "Sheesh. You say that like I'm planning on robbing a store or something."

"Well, you are planning to steal the Heart from AJ," CeCe countered. She did not like this one bit. She knew that stealing was wrong, especially if you're stealing from one of your best friends.

"I'm not stealing the Heart from AJ," Kara objected. "I'm borrowing it from her."

"Oh, yeah. Like that's better than stealing," CeCe said sarcastically.

"It is because I'm returning it."

"Wait, why do you need it anyways?"

"To make astral drops and a portal to Metamoor. Duh."

"Why would you do that? Unless... " CeCe gasped. "You're going to go to Metamoor to rescue Sam!"

Kara slowly clapped her hands. "Yeah, nice job. You're right. I am. The only part you're missing is the fact that we're going to Metamoor to rescue Sam. Not just me."

"What!? We're going!? I didn't sign up for this."

"So what. Don't you want to rescue Sam?"

"I do, but it doesn't go with AJ's plan and -"

"She's the leader. I know, but her plan is to wait, and Sam needs us now, so are you with me?"

"I-I-I don't know..."

"C'mon CeCe. We'll go, find and rescue Sam, and then be back before we go over to Will's house. It'll be fast and easy. What could go wrong?"

_A lot of things could go wrong, but I really want to rescue Sam now..._ "Okay," CeCe decided. "Fine. Let's go rescue our best friend."

Kara gave CeCe a thumbs up. "Awesome!" She looked over to her left and pointed to the school. "Hey, we're here! Let's go!"

And with that the friends ran over to the towering school.

* * *

CeCe's POV

Sure, being invisible in school pretty much sucks, but I have to admit, being literally invisible in school was loads of fun. I mean I was just walking around in the hallways in Sheffield and no one could even see me!

And now you're probably wondering, what the heck am I doing wandering around the school invisible? Well, that's easy. Kara sent me in here to retrieve the Heart of Kandrakar out of AJ's gym locker. Of course I objected because I didn't want to get caught and get in trouble for stealing something from the girls' locker room, so that's when Kara suggested that I use my other power, the power of invisibility to get it. I was reluctant at first because I hadn't actually tried it yet and I was a little nervous that I would somehow mess it up, but eventually I caved in to it (which I'm very glad I did). It was totally worth the half hour of concentration it took to turn invisible for the first time.

So yeah. As soon as I turned invisible, I made my way into the building, (Thanks to some coaxing from Kara.) and started heading towards the girls' locker room. Luckily, no one was roaming the halls that morning, so I didn't have to worry about accidentally running into anybody, which was good because how would I be able to explain this to anyone?

Anyways, when I was pushing onto the locker room door to open it... Bam! The door was pulled open swiftly and I ran into someone. I totally jinxed that one myself.

"Ow!" she gasped, clutching her head with her hands.

"Sorry," I whispered automatically as I quickly got up without seeing who she was and ran away deeper into the locker room. _Oh my gosh! I can't believe I just did that! I need to be more careful._ Suddenly, a sharp pain thumped in my head as I was moving along with my back against the wall.

"Ow," I mumbled very quietly, clutching my own head. _I must've banged into her pretty hard._ I let go of my head and continued moving against the walls of lockers, searching for AJ's locker. Fortunately, the locker room was empty because everyone was at the tryouts, so the only real reason someone would come in here would be to go the bathroom.

_Hmmmmmmmmm... Which locker did Kara say was AJ's? Oh, right. Locker 717._ I scooted my way over to the designated locker and looked around. _All clear. And just as I was about to reach for her open locker (Thank gosh it was already open. Kara forgot to give me the combo.), I heard the locker door open with a thud. _I froze where I was.

"Coach, I swear I heard someone in here," a girl said. "They whispered the word, 'Sorry'. It was really creepy actually." I silently face-palmed myself. _Why'd I have to apologize when I ran into that girl?_

"Nobody is in here, Linda," a voice that I'm guessing was the Coach's. "I was just in here a few minutes ago and it was empty."

"Then, how do you explain the sound?"

"It was probably just the wind."

"Wind? In the locker room? You've got to be kidding me! If you ask me, I think there's a ghost in here!"

Coach laughed. "A ghost? Now you've got to be kidding me! Ghosts don't exist. They're just fictional."

"Well, there's a ghost in here because it also ran into me!"

"Even if ghosts were real, they wouldn't run into you; they would probably phase through you. You probably just ran into the door or something."

"No, but I -"

"Listen, I think we should get back to the tryouts. Okay?"

I heard some grumbling, and afterwards, a defeated sigh. "Fine, let's go."

"That's the spirit!"

Finally, I relaxed and sighed with relief as the locker door creaked closed. _That was close. Now, I definitely need to be more careful. _I reached into AJ's low locker and shuffled through her stuff until I found what I was looking for. My eyes widened as I looked upon the small pink jewel in my hand. I concentrated for a few minutes and eventually it turned invisible, too. _Nice job, CeCe. You're getting pretty good at that._ I smiled, closing AJ's locker and exiting the locker room. _Let's go._

After that, I dashed all the way through the school to where Kara was, which was surrounded by a bunch of tall lush bushes.

"Kara!" I yelled, running up to her. "I got it!"

"Shhhhhhhhh! Shush!" Kara said quietly. "Someone might hear you!"

"Sorry," I whispered. "Look I have the Heart!"

"Awesome!" Kara smiled. "Now where are you?"

"Right in front of you," I said happily, putting my hand on her shoulder. "Here I'll make the Heart visible again. Just give me a few minutes."

"Okay."

(30 minutes later)

"Okay, maybe this is taking a little longer than I thought," I concluded as I grasped onto the Heart, concentrating as hard as I could.

"You think?" Kara said sarcastically. "Maybe we should -"

Suddenly, the Heart became visible in my hand.

"I got it!" I exclaimed excitedly and quietly, handing the Heart to Kara. "Yes!"

"Now you just have to make yourself visible again," Kara said.

"Yeah!" I replied happily. I concentrated and... I frowned. _What? Why wasn't it working? I concentrated again with all my might. Still nothing._

"What's the problem, CeCe?" Kara asked concerned.

"I-I can't turn visible again," I responded.

"It probably just takes some time. I mean it took you half an hour to turn invisible, so it probably just takes half an hour to turn back."

"Yeah, but even during that half an hour of concentration to turn invisible, I felt something. It felt like magic was flowing through me, but when I concentrate now to turn back to normal, I feel nothing. I don't feel magic. I don't feel anything."

"So you can't turn back?" Kara questioned. I nodded. "Oh, well at least now, you can be our secret weapon. Picture it now. Weapon C."

I smiled, raising an eyebrow. "Weapon C?"

"Well, yeah."

Awkward silence.

"Maybe we should go now," I suggested.

"Yeah, that would be best," Kara agreed. "I mean we can't leave a strange alien planet waiting, now can we?"

"You know it!" I said. "So do you know how to make a cold?"

"Don't you mean a fold?"

"Wait, we have to do origami? Because I couldn't fold a paper boat to save my life. Well, I guess I could make one of those paper fortune teller things and maybe a paper plane, but that's about it."

"No, a fold, as in a portal to different worlds. Weren't you listening when Hay Lin and the others explained this?"

"Uh, sort of."

"Wow, and I thought I was a bad listener," I heard Kara mumble.

"Hey!" I exclaimed offended. "So do you know how to make a fold or not?"

"Well, no, I don't, but I can sure as heck try, now can't I?"

I shrugged. "Yeah, I guess."

"Okay, so let's see... Oh, yeah. I'll just concentrate on where I want to go, which is Metamoor, and slash the air with the Heart to make a fold. It'll be as easy as pie!" Kara said confidently. She held the Heart in her hands and closed her eyes.

_I wonder how Kara knew how to do this. I mean I don't remember Will or any of them telling us how to open a fold, but I also didn't remember what a fold was either, so I guess I can't say anything. Anyways, I really hope this works because I really, really want to rescue Sam. I mean I can't even imagine the kinds of things she could be going through right now._ I shuddered. _Just don't think about it, CeCe. Just don't think about it._

"Yes! I got it! I got it! CeCe, look! I did it! Yeah! Wahoo!" Kara shouted excitedly, pointing to a blue swirling vortex that looked exactly like the one that Cedric and Sam went through.

"That's awesome!" I replied cheerfully. "Totally wicked! But we've got one little problem. To lead to Metamoor or not to lead to Metamoor. That is the question."

"Well, the answer to your question is to lead to Metamoor. I'm sure of it."

"100% sure?"

"Eh, more like 80% sure."

"Oh, that's reassuring."

"Yeah it is, isn't it? Are you ready to jump in?"

"Wait!" _I knew we were missing something, but what was it?_ I snapped my fingers. _I got it!_ "We have to make some astral drops!" I blurted out.

"You're so right! I can't believe I almost forgot," Kara said.

"It's okay. I almost forgot too," I reassured. "Besides, it's not that big of a deal. We can just make them really fast, give them instructions, and be on our little merry way."

Kara held the Heart out. "Put your hand on it and concentrate." I put my hand on the Heart, a bright light causes me to shield my eyes, and Bam! There they were. The Astral Drop Kara and Astral Drop CeCe (who was actually visible unlike me).

I circled my counterpart, checking it out. "Hmmmmm... What do you think, Kara? Does she look like me?"

"She looks exactly like you, CeCe. It is after all an ast-"

"Whoa!" I interrupted. "Don't say those words! Remember what W.I.T.C.H. warned us about? If you say those words, they'll disappear."

"Oh, right. Thanks."

"No problem. So what info should we give them?"

"Probably simple stuff like this," Kara said. She turned towards her counterpart. "Hey, Stand-in Kara!" Stand-in Kara (a.k.a. Astral Drop Kara) looked blankly towards Kara. "The only instructions you have are to go to Will's house at 2:00 with Stand-in CeCe and to occasionally say funny jokes. Okay?" Stand-in Kara blinked once before turning around and walking off. "Okay, good! Have fun!" Kara yelled, waving goodbye.

"Now, Stand-in CeCe," I said causing Stand-in CeCe to look my way, which was sort of weird because it was like I was staring in a mirror, but also cool because an almost exact copy of myself was standing right in front of me. It was like I was staring at a clone of myself like in those Sci-fi shows and movies. "Your only instructions are to go with Stand-in Kara to Will's house at 2:00, smile a lot, and sometimes say random things. Got it?" And just like Stand-in Kara, Stand-in CeCe blinked once at me before walking away. "Okay! Bye! Thanks!"

"So, now are you ready to dive right in?"

I smiled. "Let's go." Then, I held my breath and made a leap of faith into the unknown with Kara right behind me.

* * *

A/N: Sorry for the very late update, and thanks for reading. Thanks to AshleySwift13 for adding this story and me to their Favorites/Follows and reviewing. :)


	14. Chapter 14

14

Disclaimer: I do NOT own W.I.T.C.H.

* * *

When Kara stepped out of the portal, she wasn't sure what she was expecting. Maybe a red barren planet like Mars or a planet completely submerged in water with lots of colorful fishes and sea plants. Or maybe even a giant planet made of gases like Saturn or Neptune or something like that (Kara never was good with planets and space stuff. That was more of a CeCe thing.). But she was not expecting this.

"Oh. My. Gosh," CeCe said surprised.

"Holy cows," Kara said astonished. She slowly rotated around gazing at her surroundings. They were in a small yellow field with a green forest to their right, and to their immediate left was a giant cliff. Behind them, a rolling blue river flowed from the forest and over the cliff, creating a waterfall. In the distance past the waterfall, Kara could see a humongous medieval castle with a nice little village surrounding it. "Where are we?"

"I think we're in Metamoor," CeCe replied.

If Kara wasn't so busy being amazed at her surroundings, then she probably would've face palmed herself. "Well, no duh, CeCe. I mean, where exactly are we?"

"It looks like we're in some kind of field."

Kara sighed. "Yes, CeCe. That's exactly the answer I was looking for."

"So what do we do now?" CeCe questioned nervously.

"How about tell me where you are. You're still invisible you know," Kara answered, moving her arms around searching for CeCe.

"Oh, I'm right behind you," CeCe said, putting a hand on Kara's unsuspecting shoulder, causing said person to jump.

"Whoa, CeCe. You scared me," Kara said. "Okay, how about you just stay pretty close to me, so we don't get separated and lost. Got it?"

"Got it, chief!" CeCe chirped.

"Great! So what do you suggest we do now?"

"Well, where would a bad guy keep a hostage in this place?"

Kara looked over towards the village and castle. "Not in the village or castle. That's for sure."

"Yeah, that would be pretty stupid. I mean since the queen is good, then the village and castle are bound to be surrounded with good guards, so the bad guys would have to be idiots to have their evil lair in there."

"Yup, so that leaves the waterfall, the lake at the bottom of the waterfall, the river, and the forest."

"Ooh! Ooh! The lake! The lake! Let's go there first!"

Kara frowned. "Ugh, not the lake! Almost anywhere but the lake!"

"What's wrong with the lake? It'll be fun to swim in it!"

"Yeah because nothing says fun like flapping around in fish pee."

"Well, when you put it like that, it's gross, but you have to admit. Swimming is fun! If only I had my snorkel mask with me..." CeCe trailed off.

Kara laughed. "Why? Do you normally keep your snorkel mask with you?"

"Yup. It's in my backpack. I bring it to school with me."

Kara's mouth fell open a little and a 'What the heck!?' look appeared on her face. "Since when?"

"Since I found out about the swimming unit in gym."

"But that's not until next semester."

"I know, but I'm just so excited for it! I can't wait!"

"Yay," Kara said sarcastically with fake enthusiasm. "Swimming."

"Yeah, it's pretty amazing!"

Kara sighed. CeCe just doesn't get it. Swimming for her was awful. She hated swimming. Well, in public that is. In reality, she loved to swim. She loved the feel of the nice cool water on her skin and the way everything seemed to disappear when she swam. It was like all of her problems and thoughts drifted away, and all that was left was her and the water. She could just relax and float around without a care in the world. It was fantastic, but a swimming unit in gym? That was dreadful. Kara did not like the idea of being in her swimsuit in front of all her classmates. It made her very nervous. Kara shook her head. _What am I thinking? I'm thinking about gym class when I should be thinking about rescuing Sam. I really hope she's all right. _

Suddenly, a small smile played on her lips as she thought about all the good memories Sam, CeCe, and herself shared together. _I remember how during recess on the playground, we always played tag. Usually CeCe started out as 'it', but she was pretty quick to tag Sam or me shortly after the game started. But eventually, I was tagged 'it' and let me just say, I was slower than molasses on cold winter day. I could never manage to tag them. They were like the hares and I was the tortoise, except for the fact that I could never 'win the race', but that's okay because it was tons of fun. We were laughing and giggling throughout the whole games._ Kara chuckled. _And that one time when we went to get ice cream at the park and CeCe tripped, spilling it all over herself. Sam and I laughed so hard at that CeCe couldn't help but laugh along too. Well, after she narrowed her eyes at us for laughing at her. _

"Hey!" CeCe exclaimed without warning, pulling Kara away from her reminisces. "Do you smell that? It smells like smoke!"

Kara sniffed the air. "Hmmmmmmmm... Yeah I do smell that." She glanced up and saw lots of gray smoke drift above the trees in the distance. "And I see it, too."

"I think we should check it out," CeCe suggested perhaps over from Kara's left.

Kara sighed. "I don't know, CeCe. It's probably just a small campfire or something." Kara really didn't want to waste time investigating this thing. It was probably just something stupid, and the longer this took, the lesser time they would have to look for Sam.

CeCe laughed. "More like a gigantic bonfire. I mean look at all the smoke it's producing. There's no way that a small campfire could be giving off that much smoke."

_Hmmmmmmmm... That's a good point... Maybe, it's the bad guys lighting things on fire. Maybe CeCe is right. It could be worth checking out after all._ "Fine, let's go check it out," Kara grumbled grudgingly, heading towards the direction of the smoke.

* * *

Stevie smiled. _Why is shopping so much fun?_ She flipped through a rack of fancy white tops, and picked out a couple of the more stylish ones.

"Hmmmmmmmm... Maybe this one," Stevie murmured as she picked up a very frilly white top. Of course she had no intention of actually buying anything, but trying on the clothes was free, now wasn't it? "Or maybe even this one," she murmured again except this time, she picked up a white long-sleeved shirt with a very big V-neck.

_Hmmmmmmm... Bigger is better, right?_ Stevie sighed, staring at the two pieces of clothing in her hands. _Of course it is. Well, not in some cases such as this whole Guardian thing._ She sighed again. Stevie wasn't exactly sure what she thought about this Guardian gig. Sure she sort of secretly liked being the Earth Guardian, but now she had to worry about giant ugly snake monsters and going to different worlds. Stevie didn't really think that it was that great of a tradeoff.

"I would go with the V-neck shirt, Stevie. It would look wonderful on you," a voice behind Stevie suggested.

Startled, Stevie dropped both items and quickly turned around. "Hey, Beth," she smiled. She then nodded at the rest of the cheerleading team behind Beth. "And Team." Smiles and murmurs traveled through the team as they waved at their cheerleading captain.

"So Stevie," Beth started as she bent down and picked up the clothes that Stevie had dropped, while the team dispersed and went their separate ways to shop throughout the store, leaving Stevie and Beth alone. "What's up?"

Stevie's smile brightened. "Not much, you?" Of course that was a small lie because a lot had happened to her. She'd found out that she was a new Guardian of the veil with a destiny of saving the universe and stuff. She'd found out that she has kick butt powers and has to beat a variety of ugly bad guys, including a really hideous snake monster named Cedric. And well, all of that didn't really roll off the tongue quite as well as you'd think.

"Not much for me either," Beth replied. "Well, except for the Halloween party. That was pretty fun."

"Yeah, it was..."

"You know, I didn't really see you a lot during it. Where were you?"

"Oh, you know, around...," Stevie trailed off nervously as her genuine smile turned into a big fake one. _Oh great. More lying to my best friend. What has this world turned into?_

"Don't you mean hanging out with them," Beth suddenly sneered. She said 'them' like she was talking about a gross dirty unwanted gym sock she'd found at the bottom of her laundry basket.

Stevie shrunk back a little at the sudden outburst. _Was she talking about CeCe, Sam, AJ, and Kara?_ "What do you mean them?"

"Oh, you know who I'm talking about: CeCe, Sam, and the rest of them losers. I saw how you were hanging out with them during the party and how you all left together in the middle of it."

"So?"

"So what do they have on you? Why are you hanging out with them?"

"Because." Stevie folded her arms across her chest. She didn't like that her best friend was interrogating her like this. She had a right to hang out with whoever she liked.

Beth's face brightened. "Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhh, I get it. It's the guilt, isn't it?"

Stevie just stared at Beth. "Excuse me?"

"Oh, don't play dumb, Stevie. It's so obvious that it's the guilt."

"What guilt?"

"Well, your guilt over punching CeCe in the face. You feel bad that you gave her a black eye, so you decided to hang out with her, so you'd feel better. And as a bonus, if you hung out with her, then she wouldn't blab about the whole incident and you wouldn't get in trouble with Principal Knickerbocker. It's actually a pretty smart plan."

Stevie opened her mouth agape. _Beth thinks that I hang out with CeCe and the gang because of my guilt over punching her. Hmmmmmmmmmmm... Well, I guess that it's slightly true. I mean I do feel pretty bad about the whole thing, but that's not totally it._ "Uhhhhhhhhhhh..."

"It's okay, Stevie. It was a really brilliant idea, but now it's all fine, so you can stop hanging out with CeCe and the loser squad. Your debt is all paid. I mean you've hung out with her for the last couple of days, which was probably the highlight of her stupid life, but I guess what I'm saying is that you should stop hanging out with them. You should spend more time with your real friends, not some lower class losers."

"But -"

Hurt flashed across Beth's face. "Wait, are you saying that you'd rather hang out with them instead of me?"

Stevie vigorously shook her head. "Of course not! You're my best friend."

"Good," Beth beamed with a smile. "Now let's hang out and do some shopping. What do you say?"

Stevie glanced at her watch. _Almost time for training at Mrs. Vandom's. Hmmmmmmm... Maybe I can skip it... I mean training shmaining. It's not that important anyways, right? Besides, Beth is right about one thing. I haven't exactly been spending tons of time with her like I used to. Hmmmmmmm... Yeah this guardian gig can wait. My best friend is way more important. Besides, shopping is exactly what I need right now._ "Sure let's go," Stevie responded confidently, smiling.

"Perfect," Beth said, wrapping her arm around Stevie's shoulder. "Let's go."

* * *

CeCe's POV

In my fourteen awesome years of life, I had never seen a fire as big as the one flaming before me. It was like an elephant was on fire. Well, except for the fact that it wasn't an elephant but a house. It was like one of those old brown medieval houses except that it had humongous red-orange-yellow dangerous flames leaping everywhere. It was actually kind of cool and pretty. Well, cool in a not so cool sort of way. Get what I mean? It's sort of like how it's funny when someone trips, but when you see that they're hurt, it's not so funny anymore. Well, same concept. It's cool how the flames look and move so graciously, but not so cool for the house and the person who lives there.

Okay, so as soon as we got to the source of the smoke and after staring at it for a while, Kara yelled, "What do you think we should do, CeCe? Get some marshmallows and roast some s'mores?"

"Let's put it out," I concluded. "You can drench the fire with water."

Kara face palmed herself. "Why didn't I think of that?" She positioned her hand so it looked like a pistol. She pointed it towards the fire and _Bam!_ "Water!" she yelled confidently. A good 5 drops of water shot off her finger and into the flaming hot fire, making a nice sizzling sound. "Aw man!" Kara said exasperated. "That was probably the worst shot in the history of shots! I'm like a broken sprinkler!"

I giggled a little bit at that last part. "Aw, don't worry about it. It was a pretty good attempt."

"Yeah, and when you say pretty good, you really mean pretty bad."

_Boom!_ A big piece of the roof caved into the house, stoking the fire and making the flames jump a good 10 feet.

"Ooh! I've got an idea," I said excitedly, raising my right arm into the air, even though Kara couldn't see it. It sort of felt like I was back at Sheffield, sitting at my desk in Biology and eagerly raising my hand to answer a question.

"Yes, CeCe?" Kara asked, slightly impatiently.

"How about we just go find help? I mean your powers are malfunctioning. My powers are malfunctioning. I don't think we can do anything else."

"Fine, let's go," Kara sighed, turning around towards where we came from. She started walking in that direction. "And by the way, Ms. Invisible, my powers aren't that malfunctioning. At least I'm visible."

"Hey! This is my first time being invisible! And this is what? Your 2nd attempt to squirt water at things," I defended myself, rushing to catch up with her.

_Boom!_ I glanced behind me to see the rest of the roof cave in, becoming quickly devoured by the ever growing fire.

"Fine, whatever. Let's just head to the village, okay?"

But before I could answer, a really gruff voice stopped us dead in our tracks. "Hey, you there! Halt in the name of Meridian!"

I gulped as I slowly turned around with Kara. A collective gasp escaped our mouths for in front of us were ugly monsters! (No offense though to them.) Some of them were green, while others were blue, but the weirdest thing about them was the awkward whitish spikes coming off their faces. Well, something like spikes. They're kind of hard to describe, but I think you get the point. Anyways, they were pretty scary with their very pointy swords, sharp spears, bows and arrows, maces, and etc., especially since it was all pointed towards us.

"In the name of Metamoor, you are hereby arrested for the criminal act of arson."

_Oh crud._

* * *

AJ laughed as she entered the girls' locker room. "That was a nice left handed layup, Rachel," AJ complimented one of her new friends. Finally, the long hard basketball tryouts were over (The school decided to squeeze all of the basketball tryouts and tryout practices in one super long, sweaty day) and now all they had to do was wait for the results.

"Thanks and your free throws were pretty amazing, AJ," Rachel replied, smiling.

"Thanks." The girls then gave each other high-fives before splitting up to go to their athletic lockers, which just so happened to be right next to each other, and putting in their combinations.

"So do you think you made the team?" Rachel asked as her locker opened with a satisfying click.

"I don't know... Do you?" AJ responded as she, too, managed to open her locker with a satisfying click.

"Oh, I hope so. I've worked so hard for this. I'd be really devastated if I didn't."

"Yeah, it's great to be a Sheffield Shrimp! You know, unless there's a whale around."

Rachel laughed. "Why the Sheffield Shrimp? Why not the Sheffield Sharks or something?" No answer. "AJ?" No answer. "AJ? Are you there?" Rachel turned around to glance at a frantic AJ, hurriedly shuffling around in her locker.

"Where is it? Where is it? Where is it?" AJ mumbled under her breath, pretty much destroying her locker. _Where is it? I can't believe it's gone! I can't believe I lost it! One of the most powerful things in the world and I just lost it! I can't believe any of this! I'm a horrible leader and guardian!_

"Where is what?" Rachel questioned curiously.

"Uhhhhhhhh... My necklace," AJ answered nervously. "You know the one with the pink jewel."

A look of realization came across Rachel's face. "Oh, yeah, I remember now. The pink necklace you took off before tryouts. So where'd you get it? It's really pretty."

"Oh, uhhhhhhhhh...," AJ trailed off. _Crud. What am I going to say to her? I mean I can't exactly tell her that I got the necklace from my Biology teacher and that it has the power to transform us into older fairies with superpowers, now can I? _

"Oh, uhhhhhhhhhhhh... What?"

"Oh, uhhhhhhhhhhh... The carnival!" AJ blurted. "Yeah, I got the necklace from the carnival, and it's really important to me because, uh, Harris got it for me."

"Who's Harris? Your dad?"

"Uh, no. He's sort of like my older brother."

"Sort of?"

"Yup, sort of as in he is my older brother," AJ explained. Harris was her amazing and nice older brother, and like pretty much the only one that actually cared and paid attention to her unlike her famously rich parent and step-parent who wouldn't give two nickels about where she or Harris was and what she or he was doing. They could be missing multiple weeks, doing whatever and her parents wouldn't even notice or care that they were gone. It's really depressing actually.

_Bam!_ Linda roughly banged open the door and dashed inside the locker room. "Guys, I swear. There's a ghost in here," she stated. The whole team stopped what they were doing and just stared at her like she had two heads or something. "I know it sounds crazy, but there are! One of them even ran into me! So watch your backs because they could be lurking anywhere..."

AJ stifled a laugh. _Ghosts? What a stupid idea. Ghosts aren't real, especially ones that run into you. Linda must finally be cracking under the basketball tryout's pressure. _

"Yeah right, Linda. Give it a break. We're not stupid, so stop fooling around," one of the girls who tried out said vexed.

"I'm not fooling around, guys. It's real! In fact, it could still be here!"

_Wait, something possibly tangible and definitely see-through in the locker room? And it just happens to be noticed right when the Heart goes missing? Oh, no. What if Linda isn't hallucinating after all?_

"Wow, Linda. I guess you've totally lost it now. Ghosts? Haunted locker rooms? What's next? Werewolves?" another girl said nastily.

"Fine. You don't believe me? Well, I hope you have fun at your funeral because I don't think the ghosts will like nonbelievers," Linda warned creepily, leaving the locker room and sending a shiver down AJ's spine.

"Wow, what a creeper," Rachel stated, putting her gym clothes into her locker. "I mean the whole ghost and nonbeliever thing? What was that about?"

"I'm not sure," AJ replied, putting all of her clothes and gym stuff back into her locker. _What if what Linda said was true? What if there are ghosts and they stole the Heart? I mean I didn't used to believe in giant green snake humanoids either, so ghosts can't be that far down the road, right? Besides, I don't see any signs of forced entry into my locker, so ghosts would sort of make sense. They could just phase through my locker and grab the Heart. It would be a piece of cake for them. _AJ shut her locker and turned towards Rachel, who was just shutting her locker, too.

"So, are you doing anything later today?" Rachel asked, standing up from her sitting position on the bench. "I mean if you weren't, I was wondering if you wanted to hang out or something."

An apologetic look came upon AJ's face. "Sorry, Rachel, but I can't today. Maybe later, okay? I've just got stuff today." _Including finding the Heart and power training._

"Oh, okay. Maybe later then," Rachel said sadly with a fake smile plastered on her face, which AJ couldn't detect.

AJ got up from the bench with backpack in hand and smiled. "Okay, great. See you on Monday." AJ waved goodbye and headed out of the locker room towards a certain teacher's house determined and worried. _I wonder where the Heart could be._

* * *

"Kara, what do we do?" CeCe whispered very quietly to Kara. They were both just standing there, staring at the army in front of them.

"Don't worry. I'll handle it," Kara whispered back even quieter.

"Surrender now and no one will get hurt," the big blue guy in front commanded gruffly, pointing his very sharp sword towards them. It looked like he was the leader of their little army.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. Hold on now," Kara said confidently. "I think you've got the wrong girls here because we did not start that fire. It was already burning when we got here."

"Liar! We have eye witnesses saying that you are the one that started this crime!" the blue commander accused.

"Well, I think your witnesses need to get their eyes checked because we were ones trying to put the fire out, not the other way around."

"We? Vathek, did they just say we?" the yellowish green guy in front asked the blue commander, apparently named Vathek. The yellowish green guy turned towards the duo, or actually more towards Kara. "Who are your accomplices, you criminal!?" _Wait. Can't he see CeCe? Oh, right. She's playing Invisible Woman right now._

"Answer Aldarn's question!" Vathek barked.

"Fine!" Kara snapped. "I don't have any accomplices. Can't you see I'm alone? Or are you blind, too, you big can of ugly?" Vathek growled.

"Uh, Kara?" CeCe whispered. "I don't think you should be trying to make him mad."

"It's fine," Kara stated quietly. Then, before either of them could even blink, Vathek was charging at Kara, ready to bring her down. Kara quickly turned around and tried to run away, but before she could even take a step, she was tackled to the ground with a _Thud!_ "Ow!" she exclaimed face down into the dirt. Vathek was straddling her back (_which was very uncomfortable by the way_), while pinning her arms to her sides. "Get off of me! Who do you think -?"

"Hurry! Bring me a pair of handcuffs! I've got a feeling she's a slippery one," Vathek ordered, interrupting Kara. Aldarn rushed over to Vathek, handing him a pair of silver handcuffs. _Uh oh._

"And I've got a pretty good feeling that he's a big creepy ugly one," Kara mumbled as she struggled to get out of Vathek's iron grip. _This guy weighs a ton! And okay, so I'm not exactly helping myself out here, but whatever right? I'm done being Mrs. Kindness, and now it's time to start bringing out the big guns._

Kara kicked, screamed, wiggled, and thrashed around, but to no prevail. It was like this guy was made of stone or something. He would not budge. _Okay, now enough fooling around. Time to draw out the big cards._

"Oh wow, buddy. You're making a huge mistake!" Kara yelled as Vathek attached the handcuffs onto her wrists, causing Kara to slightly panic. "You know who you're messing with? That's right, buddy. A Guardian of the Veil!" Kara exclaimed loudly, smirking, but her smirk was soon replaced with a frown as the army howled with laughter.

"Wow! How stupid do you think we are?" Vathek laughed, getting off of Kara. "We've seen the real Guardians of the Veil, and let me just say, you are definitely not one of them!"

"Yeah, I am," Kara protested. "I'm the new water guardian, and trust me, buddy, when my powers actually start working, there's going to be a humongous hurricane with your name on it!"

"BS!" Vathek hollered unbelieving in Kara's words as he grabbed the back of Kara's shirt and pulled her off of the ground. Then, he grabbed her arm and started dragging her toward the horses.

"Hold on!" Kara screamed, causing Vathek to stop. "I can prove it! I have the Heart of Kandrakar!" Kara wiggled around to reach into her back pocket to grab the shiny pink jewel. "Here!" She tossed the Heart onto the ground in front of Vathek, which was actually a lot harder than you'd think. "There it is. The Heart. Now do you believe that I'm a guardian?"

Vathek stared at the Heart for a minute before picking it up. He rolled it over in his hands as he just stared at it some more, not exactly believing that it was there. _C'mon dude, it's the real Heart of Kandrakar. Why won't you believe me already?_ "Where did you get this?" Vathek interrogated harshly, pointing at the heart.

Kara rolled her eyes. "I told you already. I'm one of the new guardians of the veil. That's how I got it."

Vathek roughly grabbed the front of her shirt and lifted her up off the ground angrily. It was actually kind of scary. "Shut up, scum, and tell me exactly where you got it."

Kara glared Vathek right in the eyes. "I told you. I'm one of the new guardians. Got it?"

Vathek narrowed his eyes at her before throwing her to the ground. "You disgust me with your lies," he spat, turning on his heel and walking towards his horse. Aldarn then ran over to Kara and pulled her up by her arm. _I swear, if you people keep pulling my arm, it's going to come off soon. _"Now let's just take you to the castle already, garbage. There's a nice comfy jail cell waiting for you," he commanded over his shoulder. Aldarn, following Vathek's command roughly started walking her towards the horses. _Oh crud. Oh crud. Oh crud. I can't go to prison! I'm too young! I have my whole life ahead of me!_

"Wait!" Kara yelled desperately, causing Vathek and the army to stop whatever they were doing and turn towards her. Aldarn stopped walking and tightened his grip on her arm. "I'm too young to go to prison! I mean I'm only a little girl for Pete's sake! You wouldn't throw a small innocent girl into a damp dark prison, now would you?" Kara's eyes widened. "Would you?" By the look on Vathek's and Aldarn's faces, she could tell that they weren't buying it. _I guess I'll have to step it up a notch._ Kara pinched her own back very hard, causing her eyes to water. "I'm begging you, sir. I don't want to go to prison. I just want my mommy. She's probably worried sick about me, and I miss her, too. I don't want to die rotting in a prison cell! I just want to go home," Kara cried, sobbing a little bit at the end for good measure. "Are you as heartless as to deny that simple wish to a mere child?"

Aldarn loosened his grip on Kara. Bingo. "I-I-I," he stuttered.

"Aldarn! Did you seriously fall for that?" Vathek questioned the yellowish green humanoid. "It's a load of bull. She's just playing you like Miranda tries to." _Miranda? Who's that chick? Maybe she's another mistakenly jailed little girl like me. Well, I'm almost a mistakenly jailed little girl. _

_Boom! _Kara became puzzled as she felt Aldarn let go of her arms and collapse on the ground unconscious.

"Time to go," a voice whispered into her ear.

"CeCe?" Kara asked. _I can't believe I forgot that she was even here._

"Don't talk, just run," CeCe replied back, pulling lightly on Kara's arm away from the confused army, who was just standing there staring at Aldarn's unconscious form. _What a bunch of idiots!_

"But how?" Kara questioned, starting to run, which was really difficult because her arms were bound behind her back.

"Well, it turns out rocks are a lot harder than I thought," CeCe replied from somewhere in front of Kara.

Kara smiled. "Wow, CeCe. I didn't know you had it in ya," she said impressed, ducking under giant tree branches that threatened to whack her in the face.

"Well, like they say, desperate times call for desperate mea-"

_Thud!_

Kara stopped in her tracks. "Uh, CeCe?" She questioned warily. No answer. _What the heck was that noise and why isn't she answering?_ "Uh, CeCe, this isn't funny anymore..." Kara carefully took a step forward and sighed. _I bet she's just pulling my leg. Yeah, I bet she's just hiding behind that tree up ahead and when I get over there, she'll jump out and attempt to scare me. And then I'll make some little quip about how the best thing she'll ever be able to scare is a rock and we'll be on our way, successfully escaping from the group of idiots pursuing us._ "Okay, CeCe, you can com- Ouch!" Kara cried out, tripping over something that she didn't notice.

Kara groaned. _Ow... What the heck was that?_ She opened her eyes and widened them in surprise. _And what the heck is that?_ For in front of her was a floating dart. It was a bright, shiny blaze orange with a black stripe wrapping around the middle of it. It actually kind of looked like an orange floating bumble bee with its pointer pointing straight down and a couple of colorful feathers popping out of its mouth.

_Hmmmmmmm..._ Kara reached for it, mesmerized, but jumped back when she felt something else around it. _Holy crud! What the hay!?_ She reached out again and groped the area around it. It sort of feels soft and cylinder like... She groped a little further and sort of gasped. _Is this hair? And it's in a ponytail... Just like how CeCe wears her hair... Oh no, CeCe! That must be a tranquilizer d-. _

"Ow!" Kara exclaimed, feeling something prick her neck. She instantly reached behind her neck and pulled something out. Panic started to fill her being as she stared down at the thing in her hand. _Oh crud. Oh crud. Oh crud. _She dizzily began to stand up, but immediately fell back down. _My head is killing me! _She grabbed her head as black dots began to fill her vision.

_CeCe, I'm sorry for dragging you into this._ And everything went black.

Kara's limp hand opened to reveal an orange dart.

* * *

Hay Lin frowned as her hand twitched. She was not enjoying herself. She was too tense and too nervous to. She had always hated lying to her parents about her special extracurricular activities (a.k.a. Guardian duties) and keeping the whole thing a secret, but she hated lying to her friends even more. There was a secret she had that was just itching to get out. _Maybe I should tell them. I mean it's not a bad thing or anything... Besides, it's only a hunch….._

"So, Hay Lin, the Oracle extended your stay, right? So that means that you get to stay here longer, right?" Taranee asked curiously from the couch. All of W.I.T.C.H. was sitting in Will's living room waiting for the new guardians to show up for the beginning of their training. All of the guys were coming later.

Hay Lin nodded, sitting on the armchair. "Yeah, the Oracle said that I could stay as long as I needed to, so I can help train the new guardians and help with the, uh, Sam incident."

"Oh, right. Poor Sam," Cornelia said sadly from the floor in front of the couch. "I mean being captured the same day as finding out that you're a guardian must have been super rough."

"Yeah, no kidding, but you know, getting captured in the beginning seems to be a fire guardian thing," Irma stated, earning a glare from Taranee.

"Oh, because I totally wanted to get captured by Frost," Taranee replied sarcastically.

"Okay, guys, let's focus," Will said calmly, trying to diffuse the situation before anything happened. "Now what are we going to teach the girls first, so they can go rescue Sam?"

"Um, maybe how to use their powers," Irma said in an obvious tone of voice.

"Yeah, or maybe some trust exercises," Taranee suggested. "I mean they didn't really seem to be getting along that well, and trust is a huge part of working well as a team." Hay Lin flinched. She guiltily replayed that last statement in her head. _Trust is a huge part of working well as a team._

"That's a good point, but what about relaying information about Guardian stuff to them, like stuff about Hearts, different worlds, and villians? When we were Guardians, how many times did we wish that we knew about something beforehand? I think it would be pretty useful for the new guardians if they knew more about stuff, especially since Phobos is back..." Cornelia trailed off. Phobos had always sort of scared W.I.T.C.H. even though they'd never admit it, but those fears were set to rest when he was defeated. Unfortunately, now that he was back more powerful than ever it seemed, it wasn't exactly helping those fears, especially since the last attack, where W.I.T.C. and friends almost died at Phobos's hand.

"Speaking of Phobos, did anyone else notice how different he looked when he attacked us last?" Will questioned.

"No, he looked as ugly as always," Irma responded. "Why?"

"Didn't he look normal? Like how he looked when we fought him 40 years ago?" Will hinted.

"Well, yeah. Exactly like that," Irma stated, not exactly getting what Will was saying.

"I think what Will is trying to say is that Phobos looked too young when we last fought him. He should've been older looking. He should've been 40 years more older looking, but instead he was as young as he was when we defeated him when we were teens. It's like time never touched him," Taranee explained.

"Or maybe he glamoured himself, so he looked younger," Cornelia added. "Or maybe he made himself younger like Nerissa did. Remember that?"

"Oh yeah, I definitely remember how Ms. Control Freak became younger and took over the former guardians, so we had to fight them," Irma said, smirking. "And I also remember how we kicked her butt!"

Normally, Hay Lin would've yelled, "Yeah, we did!" and high-fived Irma, but Hay Lin wasn't really in the mood for it right now, so instead, she let out a nervous laugh.

Will looked over at Hay Lin and raised a confused eyebrow at her weird behavior. "What's wrong, Hay Lin? You've been awfully quiet," Will asked concerned for her friend.

Hay Lin fidgeted. "Uh, nothing," she lied forcing a false smile on her face.

"Hay-Hay, I love you, but you do realize that you're like the worst liar in the history of lying, right?" Irma questioned.

Hay Lin dropped the fake smile. "Yeah, I guess."

"So what's wrong?" Taranee inquired worriedly.

"Well, there's something that I need to tell you guys," Hay Lin said nervously as her palms started to sweat a little. "It has something to do with the new guardians or should I say, only one of them, and well... I don't know... It's only a hunch, but…"

"You can tell us anything, Hay Lin," Cornelia reassured.

Hay Lin smiled. "Thanks, Corny, and uh, hmmmmmmm... I'm not exactly sure how to put this, so, um, I'll just spit it out." Everyone eagerly leaned in closer to hear what she was going to say, and Cornelia snorted when Hay Lin called her Corny. "CeCe is-"

_Thud! _

Suddenly, the front door swung open and a panicking AJ ran into the room.

"The Heart off Kandrakar is gone!" she hollared, kind of freaking out.

"What do you mean it's gone?" Will asked, standing up from the couch.

"I mean I can't find it! I put it in my gym locker before basketball tryouts, and afterwards, it's not there! Holy cows! I can't believe I lost it! I didn't mean to!" AJ ranted, furiously pacing the living room.

"Calm down, AJ. We'll find the Heart," Will said trying to reassure the panicking teen and sitting back down on the couch.

"Just tell us exactly what happened, and everything will be fine," Taranee piped up.

AJ stopped pacing. "Okay, so I put the Heart in my gym locker, thinking that it would be a good place to keep it safe, and then I went to the gym and rocked the Sheffield basketball tryouts. When I came back, the Heart was gone."

"Okay, that's a good start, but we need more info. Was there anything suspicious that happened there?" Cornelia questioned.

"Uh, no... Well, if you count ghosts, then yeah," AJ replied.

"Ghosts?" Irma inquired. "What is this? Ghostbusters?"

"Well, that's what one of the other girls that tried out for basketball said," AJ answered, shifting around nervously. "She claimed that a ghost ran into her."

"But I thought that ghosts phase through stuff, not run into people," Hay Lin joined in.

"Ghosts don't run into people," Will said contemplating. "But invisible people do."

"So you think Phobos could be behind this?" Taranee asked. "I mean if he has the power to revert to his younger self, then turning invisible shouldn't be too far a stretch."

"Good point," Will said. She turned towards AJ. "Were there any signs of forced entry into your locker?"

"No," AJ responded. "None at all."

"Great," Irma said sarcastically. "So unless Phobos has phasing powers too, then we're screwed."

"Not necessarily," Taranee said. "Maybe we're thinking too magical. Maybe it was just some kid stealing from lockers. AJ, is there anybody that would want to get revenge on you or anything?"

AJ shook her head. "No, not anyone that I can think of."

"Hmmmmmm... Maybe the other girls will know something," Cornelia suggested, flipping her hair.

"Speaking of which," Hay Lin started. "Where are the other girls?"

AJ shrugged. "I don't know, but I think Stevie said something about going to the mall to go shopping. And I have no idea where CeCe and Kara are."

_Knock-Knock!_

"Come in!" Will shouted as the door opened to reveal a smiling CeCe and a laughing Kara.

"Funny jokes!" Kara giggled, walking into the living room.

"Random things!" CeCe smiled, shutting the front door and skipping over to Kara, laughing loudly all the way.

"Ooooooookay," AJ said, slightly creeped out. Sure, for the few days that she's known her, CeCe had always seemed like a really perky girl, but this was sort of ridiculous.

"Hey, guys! Anything interesting happen?" CeCe happily questioned, her smile growing bigger (if that's even possible).

"Do you think she's on something?" Irma whispered to Taranee, who just so happened to be a doctor.

"I'm not exactly sure," Taranee whispered back.

"Uh, yeah. Sam got captured and the Heart of Kandrakar is gone," Cornelia answered CeCe's question like it was obvious.

CeCe's eyebrows furrowed in confusion. "Sam? Who's he? Is he really nice?"

"And what's the heart of candy cane?" Kara asked puzzled. "I didn't even know that candy canes had hearts."

AJ face palmed herself. "Oh great. I think we've got a problem here."

CeCe chuckled. "Random things!"

"Funny jokes!" Kara added.

"Why do guys keep saying that?" Hay Lin inquired, getting suspicious.

"Maybe because they were told to," Will replied, slightly angry. "Astral drop!"

As soon as those two words were spoken, 'CeCe' and 'Kara' disappeared in small puffs of smoke.

"Wait, if those two were astral drops, then where are the real Kara and CeCe?" AJ asked, becoming worried for her two friends.

"I believe they're in Metamoor," a voice said, emerging from the kitchen. Everyone looked towards the voice with surprised looks on their faces.

"Elyon?" Cornelia questioned. "What are you doing here? Not that I'm not happy that you're here, but why?"

"Just thought that you might want this back," Elyon responded with a smile, tossing the Heart of Kandrakar to Cornelia, who caught it with grace. "And I came through a fold in the kitchen."

"The Heart? Where'd you find it?" AJ inquired. Her eyes widened. "Did you have to fight the ghosts?"

"Ghosts? Uh, no. I got it from some people you might know," Elyon answered. "Do the names CeCe and Kara ring a bell?"

Everyone's eyes lit up in recognition. "Uh, yeah. Kara's the new water guardian, and CeCe's the new air guardian," Taranee stated.

"Oh, so they were telling the truth," Elyon murmured.

"Why? Have you seen them?" Hay Lin asked concerned after hearing Elyon mumble about them telling the truth.

"Ummmmmmm... Yeah...," Elyon said, shifting around nervously.

"You have? Where are the little half-pints? Are they okay?" Irma questioned.

"Of course... It's just that they're, ummmmmmm, in Metamoor's prison," Elyon said anxiously, looking towards the ground guiltily. Everyone (except Elyon) gasped.

"Prison!?" AJ exclaimed, walking up to Elyon and getting all up in her face. "What the heck did they do to be put in there!? And how'd they even get to Metamoor!? Isn't that a different world!?"

"Yeah, it is," Taranee said exasperated, pinchig the bridge of her nose. "Kara and CeCe must've taken the Heart out of AJ's locker and used it to create a fold to Metamoor, so they could go rescue Sam."

"Well that explains how the Heart was stolen," Cornelia said. "If they knew the combination to your locker, then they could've easily taken the Heart out of it."

"But what about the ghosts?" AJ inquired. "How do they play in all of this?"

"CeCe," Hay Lin mumbled.

"What was that, Hay Hay?" Irma asked, catching Hay Lin mumble.

"CeCe," Hay Lin said, except a little louder this time. "She probably used invisibility to-"

"Hold on," Elyon interrupted. "Who's Sam? And I'm sorry, but who are you again?" She pointed towards AJ.

"Sam's the new fire guardian," Taranee said, answering Elyon's first question.

"And AJ? Oh, right. We haven't introduced you guys yet," Will said. She made a hand gesture referring to AJ. "Elyon, this is the new keeper of the heart, AJ."

"Hey," AJ said, waving to Elyon.

"And AJ, this is Elyon, Queen of Metamoor," Will introduced, making a hand gesture referring to Elyon.

"Nice to meet you," Elyon smiled, putting her hand out for AJ to shake. AJ looked down at Elyon's outstretched hand and reluctantly shook the Elyon's hand. She was not too happy that this person had sent two of her best friends to prison, even if she was a queen.

"Okay now that everyone's acquainted with each other, I'll continue," Hay Lin said. "What I was going to say was that CeCe probably used her invisibility power to sneak into the locker room, put in AJ's combo for her gym locker, and take the Heart without running into anybody. She was the 'ghost' of the locker room."

"Well, that explains that, but what about Kara and CeCe being in jail?" Irma questioned. She glanced over to Elyon. "How did they end up in jail again?"

"They were accused of the crime of arson," Elyon answered. "Eye witnesses saw Kara and CeCe setting fire to Julian's house."

"Julian, as in Caleb's father, Julian?" Cornelia asked surprised.

Elyon nodded. "Yep."

"Wait, who's Julian?" AJ inquired.

"He's one of the bravest knights of Meridian," Taranee stated. "He's also a good friend of ours."

"And he's Corny's father-in-law," Irma added.

"Oh," AJ said. "Okay, so CeCe and Kara were charged with burning down this guy's house? How is that even possible? They don't even have fire powers to burn down the house with."

"Maybe they had a lighter with them or something," Will suggested. "But it's not 'how' that's important. It's 'why' that's the most important. I mean why would they burn down the house? They wouldn't get anything out of it."

"They could've also gotten framed," Hay Lin pointed out. "Phobos could've framed them for the crime."

"Oh, right," Elyon started, shifting around more nervous than before. "That reminds me. I have more bad news. All of the criminals in the Metamoor prison escaped."

Gasps and looks of pure shock passed through the room. "What!?" Irma exclaimed flabbergasted. "How!?"

"We're not sure," Elyon said. "The guards were all knocked out and all of the cells were empty. Plus, there was no commotion or damage anywhere, so they must've tele-transported out of there."

"Do you think it was Phobos?" Cornelia asked anxiously.

Taranee gently pushed her glasses back onto the bridge of her nose. "If it was, then he must have tons of power to transport everyone in jail to wherever his secret lair is."

"Oh, great, just what we need. A super powered psychopath with a hunger for revenge," Irma said sarcastically.

"Yeah, but it's not us that will be dealing with this," Will remarked. "It's the new guardians' turn." Noticing AJ's worried, stressed look, she quickly added, "But we'll be there every step of the way to help, of course."

"Totally," Hay Lin agreed with a smile. "So who's ready to go to Meridian and pick up a water guardian and an air guardian?"

Everyone nodded in approval. "Cool. I'll just write a note to the guys saying that we left for a quick visit to Meridian to pick up CeCe and Kara," Cornelia said, grabbing a pen and some paper from the coffee table in front of the couch. After several seconds of furiously scribbling on the paper, she put the pen down. "There," the blonde said satisfied with her work. "It's all good."

"Awesome," Elyon smiled. "Now I'll just make a portal and..." The queen walked over to the doorway to the kitchen and poked the air, causing a swirling blue vortex to appear. "Presto! The gateway to Metamoor awaits you."

"Whoa, so this is what a fold looks like?" AJ questioned astonished and curious.

"Sure is, kiddo," Will answered, smiling with amusement, while walking towards the fold. Suddenly, the redhead stopped and looked over to Hay Lin. "Wait, Hay Lin, wasn't there something you wanted to tell us?"

Hay Lin eyed AJ warily before shaking her head. "No, I'll tell you guys later," she replied.

Will shrugged. "Okay, then. Let's go."

And with that, everyone went through the portal to a world called Metamoor.

* * *

Nerissa smirked as she leaned back into her throne. _Why does being queen of everything have to feel so good? _She looked out at the adoring crowd in front of her and smiled. _They love me. They really love me._ From atop her throne, which was atop a giant wooden stage, Nerissa waved out to the cheering crowd of Earth.

She grinned wildly as she thought about how this happened. _It's all so perfect! Better than I could've dreamed! _She looked up to see a vaguely human looking thing of blue lightning floating high above the crowd. _Will Vandom, the current leader of the guardians. A pretty good leader I have to admit, but not good enough._ To the left of lightning Will was another humanoid, except this one was made out of water. _Irma Lair, the current water guardian. A big loudmouth, that's for sure. Thank gosh she can't talk in her zenith form. _To the left of water Irma was none other than a person made out of fire. _Taranee Cook, the current fire guardian. A pretty smart girl, but not smart enough to figure out this plan, apparently._ To the right of lightning Will was a tree person with long blond hair. _Cornelia Hale, the current earth guardian. Beautiful, talented, and powerful. Too bad she can't just charm her way out of this one. _To the right of earth Cornelia was someone that looked sort of invisible, but if you looked closer, you would see that it was a girl made out of air. _Hay Lin, the current air guardian and granddaughter of the betrayer, Yan Lin. Spunky and unique, but always and forever the weak link._ Nerissa smirked again as she gazed upon her former enemies. _The all-powerful Guardians of Kandrakar reduced to my mindless slaves. Oh how the mighty have fallen!_

Nerissa's eyes wandered off of W.I.T.C.H. to her left at a young man with medium brown hair and green eyes, who was sitting in a mini throne next to her big one. _My son, Caleb, looking as dashing, young, and handsome as ever. Thanks to my power of all of the hearts in the universe, of course. _She slowly turned her head to her right at an older man with shaggy medium brown hair much like his son, piercing brown eyes, and a shaggy brown mustache and beard. He, too, was also sitting in a mini throne next to her big one. _My dear husband, Julian. Even older, you're still strong, brave, and majestic just like when I first met you._

Nerissa fidgeted with her wooden staff in her hand. _Just like my friends were._ She turned her head to stare at the small blue crystal at the top of her staff. _We were strong, brave, powerful, and in harmony. I guess it was just destiny for my former friends, plus Elyon, to be trapped in this jewel for eternity, while I ruled the universe._ Nerissa laughed. _I wonder what they're doing? Probably something boring._

"That would most likely be true," a voice stated loud and clear from the crowd. "You know, if they were actually in there."

Nerissa's head snapped up. "Who said that!?" she yelled out. Immediately, the crowd quieted. "Who the heck said that!?" she hollered out again, eyes ablaze in anger. _How dare this person just ignore her!_ The crowd parted right down the middle, leaving a mysterious black hooded figure just standing there, several meters in front of a furious Nerissa. "Who are you!?" she barked, pointing at the mysterious figure.

"Someone who knows the truth," they simply replied. "This reality you live in, Nerissa, is just a dream and nothing more."

"What!?" she screamed. "That is insane! This is all real!"

The robed figure took a courageous step forward. "No, Nerissa, it's not."

_Who does this person think they are?_ "Why do you lie to your queen? W.I.T.C.H., get them!" Suddenly, the five super powered girls had the mysterious figure surrounded, but just as they were about to charge, the robed figure waved their right hand causing W.I.T.C.H. to disappear one by one.

Nerissa's jaw dropped. "What did you do to them!?"

"I simply made them disappear for they are only figments of your imagination," the mysterious figure answered. "In fact, everything here is just figments of your imagination." They waved their left hand, and the crowd disappeared. What the heck!? "The crowd is fake." They waved their right hand again, and Caleb and Julian disappeared. Nerissa's eyes widened. _Where did they go?_ "Your relationships here are fake." They waved both of their hands and everything around started to disappear, including the stage and thrones, causing Nerissa to fall to the ground. "Everything in this reality is an illusion."

Nerissa looked around and gasped. Everything was literally gone! The city, the sea, and even the sky! It was just whiteness for miles and miles. "B-But how?" she stammered out from the ground.

"It all started when you and everyone else tried to escape the Heart of Meridian after being trapped in there for a while," the mysterious figure started, walking until they were a couple meters in front of Nerissa. "You were all holding hands, using harmony to escape, until you let go and tried to escape on your own. In your illusion, you did manage to escape by yourself and that's when everything started to fall into place. Remember that?"

Nerissa nodded. How could she not remember that? That was like one of the best days of her life.

"Well, that's not what happened in reality. In reality, everyone else escaped the crystal, while you did not. You remained there, trapped to live in your illusion for all eternity, while everyone else was freed. After that, W.I.T.C.H. managed to revert back to their normal forms, and everyone lived happily ever after. Well, except for you that is."

"W-What?" Nerissa asked flabbergasted. She couldn't believe this. Her former friends had abandoned her again. They just left her, doomed to live in a lie for all eternity. At least in her illusion, she had the decency to let them live in the real world and truth while inside the gem, not some cruddy illusion.

"Yeah, that's right. They left you to rot in some lie, while they had fun in the real world. They betrayed and abandoned you again! And now 40 years have passed..."

Nerissa's eyes widened. "It's been 40 years!? I thought it's only been a couple of years!"

"Nope, it's been 40 years, and so much has happened..."

"Like what?"

"Like the fact that new guardians have been chosen."

"Already? Okay, wait," Nerissa said. "Why are you doing this? What do you want?"

"Why do I have to want something to help you?"

"Because there's no point in it. Why free me from this illusion and jewel of you don't want anything?"

"Okay, okay, I do want something from you. I want your help."

"My help?"

"Yes, your help.

"Okay, so let's I do help you. What am I getting in return?"

"Well, besides being free from this illusion and jewel, you'll have power, the universe, and revenge."

"Ooooohhhhhh, sounds nice, but how do I know you won't turn on me? You won't betray me? How can I trust you?"

"You don't. I could betray you at any time, but that's just going to have to be a risk that you're willing to take." The mysterious figure walked over to Nerissa and held out their hand to her. "So are you in? Or out?"

Nerissa weighed out her options. _Say no and be stuck in this illusion world forever? Or say yes and be free and have power and revenge? Hmmmmmmmmm... _"I'm in," she finally decided after contemplating it for a while, taking the stranger's hand.

The robed figure pulled Nerissa up and started walking away from her. "Perfect," they said. "Oh, and I think you might be interested in this piece of information about the new guardians."

"What?" Nerissa questioned curiously, catching up with the stranger.

"One of them is a daughter of one of the W.I.T.C.H. girls."

* * *

A/N: Thanks for reading and sorry for the mega super late update, but it's probably going to be like this more often unfortunately. Thanks to creativelybored, BIGBANG13, and KayleyFisher for putting this story on their Favorites/Follows and or reviewing! :)


	15. Chapter 15

15

Disclaimer: I do NOT own W.I.T.C.H.

* * *

After arriving to the castle, Elyon led the way to the prison where they found a sleeping CeCe and a sleeping Kara. Without waking them up, they managed to move them to the infirmary. There, Taranee patched them up as best she could. Luckily, there was no serious damage, just small cuts and bruises. Well, except for CeCe's arm, which was broken, but Taranee set it up back to normal with a cast, so her arm could heal naturally with no problems. Later, they met up in the throne room and were chatting and waiting for CeCe and Kara to wake up when there was knocking at the front castle door.

"A package for your majesty," said a young messenger boy, bowing to his queen and holding out a small brown package. "It was found in the middle of the village."

Elyon smiled, taking the box from him. "Thank you, young man. I hope you have a good day." She paid him a couple of gold coins and shut the front door to the castle gently. She turned back around to face W.I.T.C.H. and AJ. "Well, it looks like we've got mail."

"Who is it from?" AJ questioned curiously.

"Probably just some fan mail," Irma said smiling. "You know, for being such awesome guardians."

Elyon frowned. "That's weird," she said, looking the package over. "There's an advertisement sticker on the top of it."

"An advertisement sticker?" Will inquired confused. "Like the ones from Earth?"

Elyon nodded slowly. "It's an advertisement sticker for the Ye Olde Bookshop."

"The Ye Olde Bookshop?" AJ asked puzzled. "You mean that creepy bookshop in downtown Heatherfield? It's been closed for like ever."

Elyon nodded. "That's the one."

Hay Lin frowned. "The Ye Olde Bookshop? But how? That would mean that -"

"The person that made that package has been to Heatherfield," Cornelia finished.

"Which means that they've done some world dimension traveling," Taranee pitched in.

Silence.

"So are you going to open the package or what?" Irma questioned, interrupting the quietness. "I think the suspense is killing me."

"I don't know," Elyon answered nervously. "I mean what if it's from Phobos? He's the only villain that's free and has been to Earth and can make portals, so it's got to be him. And if it is from him, it's probably a trap."

"Yeah, but we'll never know that for sure unless you open it," Irma persuaded.

"Besides," Will added. "It could be something important."

"Like info about Sam," AJ suggested.

"Or maybe why someone would burn down Julian's house," Cornelia said.

Elyon sighed defeatedly. "Fine, but -"

Suddenly, the box started shaking violently and glowing blue, causing Elyon to drop it in surprise.

"What the heck is happening?" Hay Lin said confused and a little scared.

Then, the box bursted open as a blue ray of light shot out of it, forming a weird bluish screen of some sort above it.

"Hello, WITCH," an evil voice boomed out. "I'm so glad you got my special package. I hope you enjoy the holographic work."

"Phobos!" Elyon hissed at the hologram screen, which showed Phobos standing somewhere very dark. "I knew it was you!"

Phobos laughed. "Nice to see you too, dear sister. Now why don't you give your big brother a smile?"

"You're no brother of mine," Elyon spit out. "And soon we'll find you and lock you up where you belong."

Phobos smiled. "Nuh uh uh. You can't be threatening me. Especially since I hold all of the cards."

"What are you talking about Phobos?" Will said, taking a cautious step forward.

"And where are you getting all of your power from?" Taranee added in. "You shouldn't be able to make portals."

"Oh, but I can, Taranee, and I can do so much more now," Phobos answered with an evil cocky grin plastered on his face. "And as for where I got it, well that's a secret."

Irma threw her hands up in sort of a sarcastic way. "Well, that's helpful!" She turned towards the rest of the group. "Why are we wasting time talking to this psycho again?" she whispered.

"Because we could get some info off of him," Cornelia whispered back.

"Exactly," Phobos cut in. "Besides I have something that you want."

"Sam. He's talking about Sam," AJ mumbled, piecing it together in her head. She took a courageous step forward and yelled, "Where are you keeping Sam!?"

Phobos laughed again. "Finally! The Keeper speaks! And yeah, I do have Sam." He paused for a moment. "You know I have to say, she's really a fighter and it's kind of annoying." He snapped his fingers and a spotlight turned on, revealing an unconscious Sam tied to a chair.

"Sam!" AJ yelled out worried for her fellow guardian, who had dried blood on her head and cuts and bruises everywhere.

"Give Sam back," Elyon demanded. "Or else."

"Oh, I'm so scared," he said sarcastically. "Anyways, I will for a price."

"Anything!" AJ called out immediately as Phobos creepily walked behind Sam.

"Your precious fire guardian," Phobos started, tracing the back edge of the wooden chair. "For one Heart of Kandrakar."

AJ sucked in a hard breath. Could she really give one of the most powerful weapons in the universe to this evil mad man?

"Think about this carefully," Will advised.

Phobos snorted impatiently. "So do we have a deal, AJ?"

AJ clenched her jaw. She couldn't believe she was going to do this, but she needed to save her friend first. "Fine," she nodded. "You've got yourself a deal. Now where should we meet?"

"Come to the Old Ye Bookshop back at Heatherfield within the next 24 hours. Come alone and not in your guardian form. If you break any of these rules or play any tricks." Phobos paused. Then, he made a golden sword appear in his right hand and placed the blade right above the back of Sam's neck, barely touching the exposed flesh. "Then, it's off with her head."

AJ gulped. "Yup, got it, sir. See you later then."

"Very well," Phobos responded, smiling and making the sword disappear. "See you then."

Suddenly, the hologram screen faded away, and the box disappeared in a puff of grey smoke.

"Well, now we know where Sam is," Hay Lin said, coughing a little bit from the smoke.

"Yeah, but now we need a plan," Taranee stated. "Anybody got any ideas?"

"Well, I think that before we do anything, we should go get the guys," Cornelia said.

"And Stevie," AJ added. "I'll go get Stevie and leave another note for Caleb, Matt, and Nigel, updating them on what happened. Then, we should wait a little bit and think things through."

"Sounds good," Will smiled.

"I've already opened a portal to Earth, so here you go," Elyon said, moving over to reveal a blue vortex looking thing.

"Thanks. I'll be right back." And with that AJ jumped right into the portal and disappeared from sight.

"So do you guys think Sam will be okay?" Hay Lin asked after the portal closed.

"Yes, definitely," Irma answered. "The little squirt can handle herself. Besides, she'll be out very soon."

"I don't know," Taranee said with a little disbelief as she pushed her glasses back onto the bridge of her nose. "She looked pretty bad. Especially that cut on her head. It looked pretty serious."

"Yeah," Cornelia agreed with a nod. "I'm just glad CeCe wasn't here to see that. She would've been even more heart broken than us, seeing that Sam is her best friend."

"That is true," Will said, looking a little grim. "I don't know how we're going to tell her this info though."

"I have no idea," Elyon said. "But we'll figure it out when the time comes."

Unbeknownst to them, however, was a certain air guardian, who just so happened to be hiding behind a closed throne room door during that whole hologram presentation.

* * *

CeCe was furious as she quietly fumed down the hallway. _How dare this Phobos dude beat on my best friend like that! Grrrrrrrr... I'm going to give him a serious smack down when I get my hands on him! And AJ, I can't believe she's just going to wait and let Sam keep suffering like that. Sam needs to be out of that nutcase's clutches as soon as possible, and since AJ isn't doing anything about it, then it looks like it's up to me._ She stopped walking and opened up her clenched hand revealing the Heart of Kandrakar. _If this is what he wants, then I'll give it to him... For Sam... I still can't believe that AJ just left this lying around again... And especially right next to my infirmary bed..._

"What are you doing?" a voice questioned behind CeCe.

CeCe quickly closed her hand around the Heart and turned around to find herself facing Kara. "Just walking around the halls," CeCe lied as she hurriedly turned back around and started to speed walk down the hallway.

"You know you can't fool me," Kara responded, keeping up with CeCe's fast walk. "You were always a bad liar."

"So?" CeCe questioned as her palms started to sweat. "What's your point?"

"You're lying," Kara stated. "But that doesn't matter because I already know what you're up to. You're going to trade the Heart for Sam."

CeCe stopped walking and swiftly turned around with her eyes wide. "How did you know?"

"Because," Kara started smiling. "I'm just that awesome." CeCe narrowed her eyes at her in disbelief. "Okay, okay, so you told me."

"What? I didn't tell you anything."

"Dude, you're projecting your thoughts out like a radio station," Kara said. "I'm just surprised the whole world doesn't know about it because your thoughts were pretty much screaming inside my head earlier."

CeCe laughed sheepishly. "Oh, they were? Sorry about that. So you're not going to tell anybody, right?"

Kara sighed. "I guess not... But you do realize that you are about to give a total maniac one of the most powerful things in the universe?"

CeCe nodded. "Uh, yes... Hey, what happened to 'Let's save Sam at all costs'?"

"Well, after getting shot by a tranquilizer dart and almost arrested for arson, I realized that we need to be more careful and not rush into things irrationally."

CeCe eyed Kara suspiciously. "Wow... Who are you, and what did you do to the real Kara?"

Kara rolled her eyes. "Listen, I'm just saying be careful, okay?"

"Okay," CeCe smiled as she turned around and started to walk away from Kara. _Oh, wait. _Suddenly, she stopped and looked back over her shoulder. "And uh, thanks, Kara," she said before walking off down the lighted corridor.

* * *

"She's gone!" Hay Lin exclaimed in a panic as she rushed into the throne room.

"Who's gone, Hay Hay?" Irma asked, rushing over to her best friend along with Elyon, Taranee, Cornelia, and Will.

"CeCe," she cried, sort of freaking out. "I think she heard the hologram message and went to get Sam."

Cornelia patted Hay Lin's back, trying to calm her down. "Don't worry, Hay Lin. CeCe couldn't have gone to Earth. She doesn't have a way to."

"She's right," Elyon agreed. "She doesn't have a way to make portals, so she must still be somewhere in Meridian. In fact, I'll go tell the guards and everybody to start looking for her. Be right back." Elyon then tele-transported out of the throne room in a flash of white light.

"Okay, so was Kara gone too?" Taranee questioned while rubbing Hay Lin's shoulder in a 'it's going to be okay' way.

"No," Hay Lin said, starting to calm down. "She was still in bed sleeping away."

"Okay, so we just have to find CeCe," Will stated, clasping her hands together. "That's just one person, which should be relatively easy."

"Yeah, but it's CeCe!" Hay Lin cried out. "She could be anywhere. We're so alike."

"C'mon, Hay Hay," Irma said, trying to cheer her up. "We'll find her. Look on the bright side."

Taranee's eyebrows furrowed in confusion. "What do you mean you and CeCe are alike?"

"Well, obviously, she means like how all the air guardians have sort of the same personality," Cornelia cut in.

"Well, yeah, but also... (mumble, mumble, mumble)," Hay Lin said looking down and avoiding eye contact.

"What?" Will questioned.

"I said, '(mumble, mumble, mumble)'," Hay Lin mummured again, keeping her head down.

"What is it, Hay Hay?" Irma inquired, a little impatiently.

"I said," Hay Lin paused, raised up her head, looked everybody in the eyes, and took a big breath of air before rushing out, "CeCe is my daughter."

* * *

A/N: Yeah, the last surprise was sort of predictable, but it needed to be said... Thanks for reading, and thanks to LuvPeaceCandy, drakensis, mahoushoujocore, creativelybored, and jntvfreak24 for reviewing and or following/favoriting this story/me.


	16. Chapter 16

16

Disclaimer: I do NOT own W.I.T.C.H. or Hello Kitty.

* * *

"What!?" Will yelled flabbergasted. "Say what now!?"

Hay Lin sighed. "CeCe is my daughter."

"You mean CeCe Ridgewood?" Cornelia asked, shocked with her mouth agape.

Hay Lin nodded. "Yes. The Oracle showed me her."

Silence.

"Who's the father?" Irma questioned. "Is it Eric?"

Hay Lin nodded again, tears stinging her almond shaped eyes. "Yes."

"So is that who's taking care of CeCe now?" Taranee inquired, pushing her glasses back onto the bridge of her nose.

Hay Lin shook her head, tears silently streaming down her face now. "Eric doesn't know about her. I never told him."

Eveyone's jaws dropped. Well, except for Hay Lin's. She was too busy curling up into a ball on the ground of the throne room. "What? How does he not know?" Will asked, shell-shocked like everybody else. "How did this whole thing happen?"

"It all started with my 9-month business trip to China. I had gotten chosen to go over there to present some of the company's latest and greatest fashion trends to some store companies over there and help our sister company over there develop new clothes trends. It was fun, and I had my own apartment over there and car and everything, but then, it started. I started getting more tired faster. I started getting headaches a lot, and in the mornings, I would vomit my guts out," Hay Lin explained, raising her head a little bit.

"Yeah, those are classic pregnancy symptoms," Taranee stated, being the doctor one of the group.

"Yup," Hay Lin continued. "That's when I found out that I was about 1 month pregnant. I mean looking back onto it, it does make sense because before I left, Eric and I had our last date for a while and yeah, we um you know…."

"Okay, Hay Hay," Irma said. "We get the idea. You don't need to go into details."

Hay Lin smiled a little. "Anyways, I got really excited. I was so happy that I decided not to tell Eric about it, so when I got home to Heatherfield, it would be like an awesome surprise. Then, about 2 weeks before I was supposed to go home, I had one of the most beautiful baby girls in the universe, and I instantly fell in love. I wasn't sure what to name her, so I decided to wait, so Eric and I could talk about it when I got home. And life was awesome, but as I was heading to the airport in my car, a drunk driver was driving down the road and Bam!; we got hit straight on. It all happened so fast, and I didn't know what to do, so I instinctually put up an air field around her for protection."

"And you paid the ultimate price for her," Cornelia said, sadly.

"Yes," Hay Lin said with a very small smile. "And I wouldn't have changed anything even if I could've... Well, except maybe I would've told Eric."

"Speaking of Eric, what has he been up to lately?" Irma inquired. "The last time we heard of him, he moved out of Heatherfield."

Hay Lin burst into a new thing of tears. "He's dead," she cried. "And so is _she_."

"She?" Will questioned. "Are you talking about -"

"Yes," Hay Lin interrupted. "_Her_. The Oracle told me about that too."

Everyone's face saddened even more. "Oh," Irma said. For one of the few rare moments in her life, she was speechless.

"So are you going to tell her?" Taranee asked sadly. She couldn't even start to imagine what Hay Lin was going through. If she had lost her granddaughter or daughter, then she wouldn't even know what to do. She would've just fallen apart.

Hay Lin shrugged with her head in her hands, still curled up in a ball. "I-I don't know."

Suddenly, a flash of bright light flooded the room, and when it died down, there was Elyon standing there and smiling. "Well, I told the guards and everybody at the palace, so they said that they'd keep an eye out for her." She looked at Hay Lin curled up into a ball crying and Taranee, Cornelia, Will, and Irma looking sad. Elyon frowned. "What did I miss?"

* * *

"What the F are you doing here?" AJ asked, stomping over to a certain earth guardian.

"Shopping," Stevie stated, sitting on a bench outside the bathrooms. "It's sort of what you do at a mall."

AJ frowned. "You know what I meant, Stevie," she said, moving so that she was towering over the blond. She was starting to get sick of Stevie's attitude. "Why are you here and not at practice?"

Stevie stood up, pushing AJ back a little bit, and said, "I should be asking you the same." Stevie didn't exactly like how AJ thought that just because she was leader, she could boss everyone around. _If the leader was anybody, it should've been me_, she thought.

"I can here to pick up you because you weren't at practice like you were supposed to be," AJ shot back, trying to glare down Stevie, but it was kind of hard because AJ was shorter by a couple of inches.

"So what?" Stevie snorted while glaring at AJ. "It's just one practice. There will be plenty more."

"Yeah, but this was our first practice," AJ replied, getting mad. _If Stevie had been at practice like she was supposed to, then I wouldn't have of had to come all the way here just to pick her up when I could be already helping W.I.T.C.H. plan something_, she thought. _Not that I don't already have a plan in motion... _"And you missed so much."

"Like what?" Stevie questioned sternly. "What could've been so important?"

"Oh, I don't know," AJ said with a voice that was dripping with sarcasm. "Maybe the fact that we now know who took Sam and where they are? Or do you even care about her?"

Stevie frowned and got all up in AJ's face. She did not like the fact that AJ was questioning her compassion for others. Sure, she wasn't exactly Ms. Kindness, but that didn't mean that she didn't have a heart. "I do care, AJ."

"Then, prove it," AJ stated. "We need to go to Meridian to formulate a plan."

Stevie nodded hesitantly. She wasn't exactly sure about leaving Beth behind, but she knew that she needed to help her team, especially since she bailed on them earlier. And since saving Sam would be good for CeCe, it might make her feel less guilty about giving CeCe a black eye. "Fine, let's go," she said. She then motioned to the left with her hand. "Lead the way."

Beth came out of the bathroom confused just in time to see AJ and Stevie leave. "Stevie?" Beth mumbled to herself. "Leaving with AJ?" She frowned. She was not too happy to see her best friend get stolen by the same person twice within two days. She angrily growled. "That b**ch," she murmured with hatred burning in her eyes, watching Stevie and AJ leave the building. "I'll make her pay."

* * *

CeCe POV

To be honest, I wasn't exactly sure what I was doing. I mean stealing - errrrr, borrowing the Heart of Kandrakar and giving it to the bad guys. Not exactly one of my smartest moments.

I was standing outside of the Ye Olde Bookshop back in Heatherfield, shivering a little bit from the cold winds blowing at me. The Ye Olde Bookshop was pretty old now and abandoned. The windows were boarded up with rotting wood, and some of the roof tiles had broken off. The place was so old that the Ye Olde Bookshop sign was missing a few letters. It now read 'Y Ode Bokho", but it was the Ye Olde Bookshop nonetheless. You could tell because it gave off this really creepy feeling whenever you went near it, but that's probably because of the rumors about the place. Some say that inside of the bookshop lives a giant green monster that crashes people's skulls in. Others say that the place is infested with snakes big enough to swallow people in one bite. Not exactly nice, is it?

I gulped with fear. I didn't exactly feel like having my head crashed in or being eaten alive by a giant snake. "I'll just be in there for a couple minutes," I mumbled, trying to reassure myself. "It's no biggie. Besides it's for Sam."

I gulped loudly again, closing my eyes. "It's now or never," I said, pushing the door open and stepping inside. I opened my eyes, and felt a giant breeze rushing past me and out the door, which was still opened. The breeze was cold and it was sort of like the breeze was warning me to get out while I still could.

Suddenly, the door slammed shut, blocking off the only source of light, thus plunging the place into total darkness. I panicked on the inside, and my breathing became rapid and shallow. I did not like the pitch blackness, considering that I was afraid of the dark.

A mysterious voice laughed. "Welcome," it said as a single light flicked on right above me. It was like one of those spotlights in plays, except that it was pointed at me directly. "I was expecting the keeper, but I guess you'll do."

I blinked as my eyes adjusted to the light surrounding me. "G-Give me b-back S-Sam," I stuttered, trying to be brave and threatening, but I'm pretty sure that I was about as threatening as a cute baby puppy. I mean between my gigantic black eye and the Hello Kitty sticker on my bright purple cast, I wasn't exactly what you might call threatening looking. "G-Give her b-back now!"

The creepy voice chuckled like it was amused by me. "Right to the point, are we now?" It chuckled again. "So did you bring it?"

I nodded, holding up the Heart. "N-now where's S-Sam?" I heard a snapping noise and another spotlight came on. This time though, the spotlight shone on a certain redheaded fire guardian. She looked just like she did on the hologram from earlier; bruised, cut, tied to a chair, and unconscious. "Sam!" I cried out. I started to run to my best friend, but I stopped when a tall blonde guy in robes (who I heard W.I.T.C.H. call Phobos during the hologram thing) stepped into the light right behind Sam with a sword to her neck.

"Nuh uh uh uh," he sort of sang tuned with a twisted smile on his face. It was so evil and scary that I stepped back a bit. "Give me the Heart of Kandrakar first," he stated, holding out his hand that didn't have the sword.

"Fine," I sighed. Phobos's smile grew bigger as he moved out from behind Sam and headed towards me with sword still in hand. He stopped right in front of me as I held out the Heart. He snatched it away from me forcefully and started to inspect it as I rushed past him over to Sam. I can't believe that I just gave him that. I tried to swallow down the guilt as I started to untie Sam's arms.

"WHAT KIND OF GAME ARE YOU PLAYING!?" Phobos screamed suddenly, looking pretty angry.

I jumped startled and looked up at him. "What are you talking about?"

That just seemed to make him madder as his face turned red. "YOU KNOW WHAT I MEAN! DO YOU TAKE ME AS A FOOL!?" Suddenly, he threw his arm out, flinging me against a wall and away from Sam. I screamed out in pain as my body crashed into the hard wall. By the way, I'm pretty sure it left a giant bruise. He threw the Heart down in front of me, and I watched as it shattered and disappeared.

"W-Why did you break that?" I half questioned half moaned. It felt like someone had just run over my back with a two ton truck.

"IT WAS A FAKE, YOU IDIOT!" Phobos yelled out impatiently. "A FAKE!"

I frowned. "W-What? B-But that's impossible!" I mean it looked like the Heart of Kandrakar and opened a fold, so how couldn't it be real? And if it is a fake, then where's the real one?

"WHERE'S THE REAL ONE!?" Phobos screamed out getting a little bit of spit on my face and grabbing me by the collar of my shirt. "WHERE IS IT!?"

"I-I don't know," I said in fear. I struggled and tried to punch and kick him, but I guess they didn't do much damage (if any) because he looked unfazed.

Phobos growled. "Then, you are useless to me." He made his silver sword disappear and in its place was a crackling energy ball. "So you must die." I closed my eyes and braced myself for what was to come, but it never did.

The doorbell rang as the door was flung open. "Phobos! Stop!" I heard someone yell with authority. I looked over Phobos's shoulder and saw AJ along with Stevie, Kara, W.I.T.C.H., and Elyon. The door closed. Probably so no one could see all the magic in the room. I mean seriously, I'm pretty sure that if anyone happened to have a magic detector around here, then it would be going off like crazy.

"Guardians unite!" AJ screamed out, holding the Heart of Kandrakar in her right hand. Well, I guess we know where that is now.

Suddenly, I felt a gust of wind rush past me and I felt myself transforming. It felt like all of my senses had opened up, especially my hearing, which makes sense because I'm air.

I opened my eyes and all of us were transformed into our older and more mature looking selves. Even Sam was transformed, but she was still unconscious and stuck to the chair. Heck, I was still being held by Phobos with an energy ball to my head. I was thinking about just hitting him with my powers, but then, I realized that if I or anyone made one false move, it would mean me going bye-bye.

"Let them go!" Elyon shouted out with her own energy balls floating in the air around her. "Let CeCe and Sam go!"

"Yeah," Will agreed leaning back in a fighting stance. "Let them go and give it up, Phobos. You don't stand a chance against all of us."

"Yeah!" Irma added also in a fighting stance. Pretty much all of W.I.T.C.H. was in a fighting stance. They looked like they were ready to drop kick Phobos at any second. "It's like 10 against 1. Just surrender and save all of us the time."

Phobos's energy ball grew even bigger, and he slowly turned around, still holding onto me as his hostage. "Oh, I guess we wouldn't want to hurt your kid, right?" he said cockily. It was almost like he knew something.

Hay Lin paled, dropping her stance a little. "How do you know about that?" she asked with accusation and... Was that fear?

"I know about a lot of things, Hay Lin," Phobos said, smiling with a knowing smirk.

"What is he talking about Ms. Lin?" Kara questioned, looking between her and Phobos. I guess she was also sensing something, too.

"Yeah," Stevie agreed. "It almost sounds like he's implying that -"

"Nothing," Hay Lin cut in quickly. "It's nothing."

"Nothing?" Phobos inquired, shaking me up and down like I was a rag doll. "Is your daughter really nothing to you?"

My eyes suddenly snapped to look at him. "Did you just say daughter?"

Phobos laughed and threw me over at the group of heroes, letting his energy ball dissipate. I landed with a thud in front of them. "You heard what I said. And it's a shame that she never told you. I mean she's known this whole time, but I guess she just didn't trust you with the truth." He smiled. "Now have some quality mother-daughter time, won't you?" He then teletransported in a flash of light out of the bookshop.

Elyon's energy balls disappeared, and we, as in the current guardians, transformed back to normal. I looked over at them and AJ, Stevie, and Kara looked as shocked as I was, while W.I.T.C.H. plus Elyon looked kind of nervous and not really shocked at all. Had they known all along?

I moaned in pain on the ground as a wave of sudden pain ran through my body. "Ow, ow, ow," I groaned, only focused on the pain. I wasn't exactly feeling great. I guess when you're in your guardian form, you don't feel as much pain and you have more endurance.

Taranee kneed down next to me and inspected me over. "Hmmmm," she murmured, thinking. "Well, it looks like there's a couple of big bruises on your back and some decent sized ones on your arms, but luckily, nothing major, so that's good. Although the bruises on your back are pretty big and purplish, so I might keep some ice on them if I were you."

"Okay," I said. Suddenly, I remembered what Phobos said and I had to know if it was true or not. I looked up at Hay Lin from the ground and asked, "Is what Phobos said true? Are you really my b-birth m-m-mother?"

"Yes," Hay Lin nodded as she held out her hand, so she could help me up, but I just batted it away. I didn't need her help, and I certainly didn't need her.

I got up and watched as a few silent tears streamed down Hay Lin's face. I stared at her as she stared at me. In the corner of my eye, I saw W.I.T.C., Elyon, AJ, Stevie, and Kara go over to Sam to get her untied and stuff. They probably just wanted to stay out of the awkwardness, and I can't blame them. I would've done the same thing, too, if one of them were meeting their birth mother for the first time face to face.

I stayed silent. I didn't even know what to say. I mean sure I've thought about this and what I would say if I ever found one of them, but I was in pain and I didn't feel like going through this. And the fact that she had known this whole time? What the heck? Why didn't she tell me? I was fuming internally with shock and anger, so I just did the first thing that popped into my mind. I turned around and half-stomped, half-limped out of the creepy bookshop.

* * *

A/N: Thanks for reading. Thanks to PhantomPride15 for reviewing and following this story.


	17. Chapter 17

17

Disclaimer: I do NOT own W.I.T.C.H.

* * *

"CeCe!" Hay Lin shouted, running down the sidewalk after her daughter. "Wait!"

"Just leave me alone!" CeCe yelled over her shoulder as she sped up a little faster. She didn't feel like talking to her 'mother' at the moment.

Hay Lin sighed as she sped up, too. _I guess I can't really totally blame her,_ she thought. _After all, I did hide the fact that I was her birth mother. I guess CeCe does have a right to be angry at me._

CeCe looked over her shoulder and saw that Hay Lin was catching up with her. _What does she want?_ She thought angrily. _Can't she take a hint?_ CeCe suddenly stopped knowing that she wouldn't be able to outrun her (probably because she was limping from just being thrown around like a rag doll by an evil idiot a couple minutes before) and sharply turned around to face her 'mom'. "What do you want?" she hissed.

Hay Lin stopped in front of the black-haired girl and looked at her closely. _Wow, she really does sort of look like me, she thought while looking CeCe over. She has my black hair and dark brown eyes. Maybe even my nose, but she's definitely got E-Eric's nice tan, except that it's a lighter tan. Maybe an olive tan?_

"Hello? Earth to Hay Lin. Are you in there?" CeCe asked, waving her hands in front of Hay Lin's face.

Hay Lin blinked and focused in on CeCe. "W-What?"

"I said what do you want?" CeCe hissed again, her eyes narrowed at Hay Lin.

"I-I just want to talk," Hay Lin stuttered. She wasn't exactly sure why she was so nervous. She's never been nervous around CeCe before, but maybe it was because now CeCe knew that she was her mother, so that made everything different.

"Well, then talk," CeCe snapped.

"I-I just wanted you to know that I-I didn't want you to find out this way," Hay Lin said, still nervous under the glare of CeCe.

"Then, why didn't you tell me earlier!?" CeCe yelled, hurt and anger vibrating through her voice. "Why did you wait for all of this to happen!?"

"I-I didn't tell you earlier because I was scared that it might ruin everything for you," Hay Lin exclaimed. "I mean you already have a family. You already have a caring mother, a loving father, and 2 nice sisters. I didn't want to butt into all of that. I also didn't tell you because I was scared at how you would react. To be honest, I didn't think that you would react like this."

"Then, how did you expect me to react, Hay Lin?" CeCe replied nastily. "Because this isn't like in the movies or shows. I'm not going to start crying with joy and run up to hug you or anything like that. This is _real_ life, and I've been living just awesome without you," CeCe pushed past Hay Lin back towards the bookshop. "Now if you'll excuse me, mother," CeCe said, making 'mother' sound as sarcastic as possible. "I'm going back to the bookshop to help someone who's _actually_ been in my life for a long time."

Hay Lin's heart broke at CeCe's harsh words as she stared down at the concrete underneath her feet. She felt depressed as she heard CeCe walk away towards the creepy store. _I will not cry,_ she thought, trying to hold in the hurt and pain from CeCe's words. _I will not cry. I will not cry. I will not cry._ Then, the hurt and sadness just became too much as tears started to roll down her face. _I can't believe she hates me. I can't believe Phobos knew about it and told her. I can't believe that this all happened. Why does this have to happen? Why? Why?_

* * *

"Why?" Phobos asked, sort of really mad, stomping around their evil lair. "Why did you do that?"

"Do what?" the hooded figure questioned innocently.

"You know what I mean," Phobos replied, getting annoyed. _This is getting kind of old,_ he thought.

_You're getting kind of old,_ a voice said within Phobos's head. _Yeah, that's right. I can do telepathy._

Phobos's eyes widened a little bit in shock. _You can?_

_How do you think I'm talking to you like this?_ The mysterious figure replied in Phobos's head.

"Oh, right, telepathy," Phobos said out loud. "You know, it kind of figures."

"Yeah," the hooded figure responded. "So to answer your question, I did it to cause a chain reaction."

"A chain reaction?" Phobos inquired, raising his voice. "You gave up a perfectly good chance to get the Heart of Kandrakar for a stupid chain reaction!?"

The hooded figure frowned (but of course, you couldn't see that because they're wearing a hood that's covering their face). "Have you forgotten who's in charge here? Or do I need to remind you again?" the hooded figure threatened, raising their arm.

Phobos panicked a little. He did not feel like going through what happened earlier again. "Uh, no, I get it, you're in charge, but I'm just saying that you could've gotten the Heart if you wanted to. You had the air guardian hostage, ready to blow off her head if needed, and if you had just held her and waited, the keeper would've cracked eventually," Phobos explained. He huffed a sigh of relief as the hooded figure put their arm down.

"I can't believe I'm saying this, but I agree with Phobos," a voice purred. "One of the most powerful weapons in the universe could've been ours."

"Yes, I suppose so, Nerissa," the hooded figure responded, contemplating. "But then, my chain reaction would've never happened."

"Chain reaction?" Nerissa asked curiously while raising an eyebrow in confusion. "Do tell."

"Yeah, seriously," Phobos added. "I feel like you're keeping important things from us."

"Okay," the mysterious figure said hesitantly. "I guess I could let you in on a few things."

"Like?" Nerissa coaxed, trying to get information about what they were up to. "What kind of things?"

"Well, for starters, the whole point of the trade in was to give CeCe the news," the hooded figure said.

"Wait, so the trade in wasn't to get the Heart?" Phobos questioned surprised. "And news? What news?"

"The news about Hay Lin's and CeCe's new mother-daughter relationship," Nerissa answered.

"Hay Lin is CeCe's mother?" Phobos inquired still sort of clueless.

Nerissa rolled her eyes. "Yes, Phobos. Please _tryyyyy_ to keep up."

"Hey! How did she know!?" Phobos exclaimed, mad that Nerissa knew things about the Guardians that he didn't.

"It was part of our deal," the hooded figure said. "And now onto the whole chain reaction thing..."

* * *

"Hey, CeCe," Kara said smiling as her friend walked/limped into the bookshop. "Are you feeling okay?"

CeCe sighed. To be honest, she wasn't feeling okay at all. She felt like the opposite of okay. She felt horrible, but she didn't want to worry her friends, so she tried to put on her big, classic CeCe smile. "Uh, yeah, I'm doing okay."

"Liar," Stevie fake coughed. The new guardians were hanging out over near the various bookshelves in the bookshop after being told to wait and fill CeCe in, while the former guardians and Elyon were over by Sam, trying to patch her up.

CeCe turned and narrowed her eyes at Stevie. "Well, yeah, I guess I'm not doing okay. I mean after 14 years of wondering the 5 W's (who, what, when, where, why), suddenly, my birth mother shows up, but I don't know that it's her because she decides _not_ to tell me, and I have to learn about it from a freaking psycho!"

"Calm down, CeCe," AJ said worried for her friend. "It's not that -"

"Wait, you're adopted?" Stevie interrupted, finally putting the pieces of the puzzle together in her head. She then face palmed herself. "Ohhhhh, now it makes sense! That's why you don't look anything like your parents!"

"Oh my gosh, Stevie, really?" Kara questioned sarcastically. "You just seriously figured that out now?"

"Yeah," Stevie said, not catching the sarcasm in Kara's voice. "And now the Hay Lin thing makes sense."

"Hay Lin thing?" Kara inquired. "What Hay Lin thing?"

"Weren't you paying attention?" Stevie asked annoyed, already knowing that the answer was 'no'.

"Sorry, did you say something, Steve?"

Stevie sighed, trying her best not to go over and strangle Kara. "I was going to say that Hay Lin is CeCe's real mother."

CeCe frowned. "Hay Lin is _NOT_ my real mother. She's my birth mother, but definitely _NOT_ my real mother. And yes there_ is_ a difference," she said defensively.

"Okay, okay," Stevie said, putting her hands up in surrender. "Don't get your panties in a twist. I was just saying."

"Well, stop 'just saying' because it's kind of rude," CeCe retorted.

"Okay, guys, let's drop the topic," AJ said, sensing the tension in the air.

"Fine," CeCe replied, crossing her arms over her chest. She looked over at AJ. "So how did you do it, AJ? You gave me a fake Heart of Kandrakar."

"Correction. You _stole_ a fake Heart of Kandrakar," AJ corrected. "I just made sure to put it in the right place."

CeCe's eyes widened. "You mean that you purposely put that fake right next to my bedside? Why?"

"Because I had a hunch that you would try to pull something to try and save Sam again," AJ answered. "You can be pretty relentless and predictable."

"How did you even make a fake heart in the first place?" Stevie questioned. "I don't remember you ever learning something like that."

"That's because you weren't around," AJ replied. "Mrs. Vandom taught it to me while you were off shopping and Kara and CeCe were off getting arrested." Stevie, Kara, and CeCe all blushed sheepishly.

"Yeah, well, shopping is important, too, you know," Stevie said defensively.

"More important than saving the universe?" AJ inquired, raising an eyebrow.

"Maybe," Stevie mumbled. "It just depends on what it is you're shopping for."

"Wowwwwwww," Kara said sarcastically while rolling her eyes. "Just wowwwwww."

"Shut up, Green," Stevie hissed. "Or I'll -"

"You'll what?" Kara challenged. "Make flowers grow wherever I go?"

"Or you don't want to know, you b -"

"So how's Sam?" CeCe asked, purposely interrupting Stevie's threat. Just because she was mad, it didn't mean that she wanted to listen to a bunch of cuss words.

AJ frowned, knowing that CeCe would not like the news. "Well, here's what we know so far..."

* * *

"Hey, Hay Hay," Irma smiled as Hay Lin walked over to her friends.

"Uh, hey," Hay Lin said with her head down. She tried to put on her best smile, but it failed miserably. _Wow, she looks really upset and depressed. I wonder what happened outside with her and CeCe._

"Why the long face?" Corny asked concerned.

Hay Lin looked up. Her face was red and her eyes were puffy from crying. "Oh, you know, the usual," Hay Lin said with a small fake laugh. "My own _daughter _hates me."

"She doesn't hate you," Irma said, trying to reassure Hay Lin. _I mean who could? Hay Lin is like the best friend in the universe._ "She just, doesn't know you yet."

"Yeah, just give her some time," Taranee added while putting some band aids that she found in an emergency kit in the bookshop on Sam's smaller cuts. "Let her cool down and get over the shock of the news."

"I guess you're right," Hay Lin sighed. She knew that deep down they were right, but it just didn't seem like it. She didn't think that CeCe would ever not hate her. CeCe just seemed so mad that it was unbearable. "But -"

"No buts, Hay Hay," Irma interrupted, waving a finger in Hay Lin's face. Irma was tired of Hay Lin putting herself down like this. _If the kid hates her, then the kid hates her. Sure it's Hay Lin's own daughter that is doing the hating, but eventually she'll come around to see what a great mother Hay Lin is. And if she doesn't, then haters are going to hate, right?_ "CeCe will learn to love you as her mother soon. Just you wait."

"Besides, what's not to love about you?" Will inquired. "You're creative, compassionate..."

"Funny, strong," Elyon pitched in, happily.

"Caring, sweet," Taranee added, meaning every word.

"Smart, loving," Irma joined in with a giant smile.

"Kind, and always there for your friends and family," Cornelia said, grinning.

"No, I wasn't. I left them. I left her," Hay Lin replied, shaking her head. She wasn't really listening to what they were saying, just what she wanted to hear. She was seriously depressed.

"You couldn't help that, Hay Lin," Elyon responded. "You were dead."

"So?" Hay Lin questioned. "That doesn't matter. I still wasn't there. I -"

"Let her down," Irma finished for her. "Yeah, I knew what you were going to say, Hay Hay, but you should seriously stop blaming yourself. It's not your fault. Things weren't in your control. They -"

"Hey, Mrs. Vandom," Kara interrupted as the newer guardians walked up to the former ones. "Is Sam going to be okay?"

Will smiled. "I think Sam's going to be just fine, but to be sure, we should probably take her to Kandrakar, so that the Oracle can heal her."

"Kandrakar?" AJ asked confused.

"The Oracle?" Stevie questioned baffled.

"What?" Kara inquired puzzled.

"Kandrakar is at the center of the universe and is the heart of infinity," Taranee explained. "It's watches over the universe and protects it from evil."

"And the Oracle is the main big wig there," Irma said. "He's head of the Council of Kandrakar."

"The Oracle is wise and powerful," Cornelia said. "He'll be able to heal Sam in no time."

"Then, what are we waiting for?" CeCe snapped with her arms folded across her chest. She was glaring at Hay Lin, who was looking down at the floor. _That kid needs to seriously stop picking on Hay Lin. Doesn't she see how hurt she has made her already?_ "Let's go. We don't have all day."

"Wow, someone's really grouchy today," Irma mumbled quietly, but CeCe heard the comment and sent a nasty glare Irma's way. _Of course, air powers. I forgot about that._ "Okay, okay," Irma said, putting her arms up in surrender. "Sheesh. To Kandrakar, Elyon!"

"On it," Elyon said as she opened up a portal to their destination.

_I hope this makes Hay Lin feel better because I'm about to do something sort of embarrassing._ Irma then hooked arms with Hay Lin and happily skipped into the portal, singing, "We're off to see the Oracle! The wonderful Oracle of Kandrakar!"

* * *

A/N: Thanks to twinbladesofthedead, PhantomPride15, G-Power, and cassvivv for adding this story/me to their Favorites/Follows and or reviewing! And thanks for reading! It really means a lot! :)


	18. Chapter 18

18

Disclaimer: I do NOT own W.I.T.C.H.

Warning: There is some blood in this chapter.

* * *

When AJ stepped out of the fold into Kandrakar, she was shocked. Of all of the things she could've thought of for Kandrakar, she was not expecting a giant floating white castle.

_I guess I shouldn't be too surprised... After all, I have seen weirder things these past few days, like giant snake humanoids, a medieval planet in another dimension, and a piece of jewelry that gives 5 girls elemental powers and new looks. I should've figured that the capital of peaceful would be a giant floating white castle. I mean the place looks like somewhere that a bunch of kind, peace-loving supernatural creatures like flying ponies, fairies, and unicorns would live._

"Welcome to Kandrakar," a voice rang out as AJ envisioned a bunch of unicorns hanging out in the large room they were in. "I am the Oracle."

AJ snapped her attention to this 'Oracle' guy and saw a bald young man in a white robe talking. He looked friendly enough. "Uh, hi," she said nervously.

"Ah, the new keeper," the Oracle said smiling. "How do you like your new role?"

"Um, it's pretty cool," AJ answered, still kind of nervous. She looked over at her friends and saw that Kara was looking around in awe, while Stevie was straightening out her clothes and inspecting her fingernails. She also saw a still angry CeCe with her arms still crossed over her chest. _I guess she's still mad at Hay Lin, which I can't blame her for. I mean if my birth mother dropped in from the blue and didn't tell me at first, then I would be pretty upset, too... Well, actually, I would also be kind of happy, too, because then, at least I might have one parent who actually paid attention to me. _AJ saddened as she thought of her mom, who was on her IPhone 24/7, doing who knows what, and her dad, who was always at the office, working and working and working. It was almost like not working would kill him.

"So where is everyone?" Hay Lin inquired curiously. _Everyone?_ AJ thought. _Who else could be here?_

_Didn't Hay Lin mention that her grandma lives here?_ Kara thought questioned.

_I think so, _CeCe thought answered. _I think she said that her name was Yond Lind or something._

_No, she said that it was Yan Lin,_ Kara thought corrected.

_So if she's Hay Lin's grandma, then doesn't that make her your great-grandma, CeCe?_ Stevie thought asked.

_Shut up,_ CeCe thought snapped. _This conversation is over._

"Everybody is meditating," the Oracle said calmly.

"So where are we?" CeCe asked. AJ face palmed herself.

"Did you seriously just ask that?" Stevie said, rolling her eyes. "We're in Kandrakar, stupid." Hay Lin and CeCe both shot Stevie a glare. Hay Lin didn't appreciate someone badmouthing her daughter even if her daughter was mad with her at the moment.

"To be more specific," the Oracle stated. "We are in the Congregation Hall." AJ looked around the large circular room and saw rows upon rows of bleachers lining the walls and some kind of small pool thing in the middle of the room.

"Hm, yeah, that's interesting and all," CeCe said, not really caring about the answer to her previous question. "But we were wondering if you could please heal Sam because she's kind of seriously beat up." CeCe gestured over to Sam who was lying on one of the benches, still looking pretty bad and unconscious.

"Of course," the Oracle said, walking over to Sam. He put a hand right above Sam's chest and it started to glow. Soon enough, Sam woke up with a scream.

"Phobos!" she yelled at the top of her lungs, flailing her arms and legs around. It was almost like she was having a spasm. Her eyes were squeezed shut, and she was screaming really loudly. Like so loudly that AJ had to cover her ears before her eardrums exploded. The sound was almost animal like.

CeCe rushed over to her faster than a bolt of lightning. "Sam!" CeCe yelled, trying to calm her down. She was trying to hold Sam still, but it wasn't really working out well. "Sam! It's CeCe! Calm down! You're safe!"

Hearing Sam yell out again snapped AJ into leader mode. "Kara, grab her left leg! Stevie, her right leg! I'll grab her left arm, and CeCe grab her right arm! We need to keep her from hurting herself!" Everyone rushed to grab their assigned limb as W.I.T.C.H., Elyon, and the Oracle helped the new guardians pin down Sam.

"What's happening with her!?" Will yelled, helping AJ. It was kind of hard to hear anything with Sam screaming her head off.

"I think she's having a mental breakdown!" Taranee answer-yelled back, helping Kara. "The Oracle only healed the physical wounds, not the emotional and mental ones!"

"So what do we do!?" Irma shouted, helping CeCe. "We can't just leave her like this!"

"Should we knock her out again!?" Cornelia inquired, helping Stevie. Suddenly, Stevie let go of Sam's right leg and walked up to Sam's head.

"What are you doing, Stevie!?" Elyon yelled. Elyon's question was answered when Stevie reared back her arm and punched Sam square in the face, knocking her out. Sam stopped moving and went quiet. Her body relaxed as everybody let go of her to catch their breaths. Sam was very strong.

"W-Why did you do that?" CeCe said, panting a little. She was not very happy that Stevie had punched her best friend, especially since she was like having a panic attack.

"We needed Sam to calm down, and I calmed her down," Stevie answered like it was no big deal. "Besides, it wasn't like we really had any other option."

CeCe sighed. She knew that that was true, but still, there might've been a less violent way to solve the problem.

"Okay, what happened, happened, so we might as well, not worry about it," Hay Lin said. "The bottom line is that Sam is calmed down."

"More like knocked out," Kara mumbled.

"So," AJ said, turning towards the Oracle. "Can't you heal her?"

The Oracle shook his head. "I'm sorry, but I cannot heal mental and emotional wounds. They're out of my hands."

"Of course," Irma murmured really quietly. "You can't heal simple mind and feeling problems _yet_ you can pretty much bend space and time and put up imaginary veils around entire planets."

"Exactly," the Oracle said, hearing what Irma murmured.

"So there's absolutely nothing you can do?" CeCe asked, quickly filling with despair.

"I'm sorry," the Oracle apologized. "But like I said before, it's out of my hands."

CeCe frowned and gently touched her best friend's face. Suddenly, she gasped and her eyes glossed over.

Kara walked over to her friend and waved a hand in front of her face. "CeCe?" Kara questioned. "Are you okay?" CeCe stood perfectly still, not moving a single muscle. It was almost like she was frozen.

"I don't think she's okay," Stevie stated not sarcastically, which was really surprising. "She's not moving."

"But at least she's breathing," AJ said relieved after feeling a pulse on CeCe's neck.

"Let's see," Taranee said contemplating. "The sudden gasp..."

"The glossed over eyes," Cornelia added.

"Not a lot of movement," Will pitched in.

"It can only mean one thing...," Hay Lin started. "CeCe is having a premonition."

* * *

CeCe's POV

(Premonition)

As soon as I had touched Sam, I knew that something was happening. I could feel something moving through my body, and to be honest, it felt weird. It felt like someone had sent a chill through my body. I shivered and opened my eyes.

_Where am I?_ I thought. _Because I don't think that I'm in Kandrakar anymore._

I looked around. It was pitch black, except for the spotlight of light that seemed to make a perfect circle a good ten feet away from me. The spotlight looked sort of like it was cutting through the darkness.

I didn't really feel any breezes or anything, so I think that I was in like a tunnel or cave or something like that.

I froze as I heard someone snicker from my left. I slowly turned around, but of course I couldn't see anything because of how dark it was. Next, I heard someone laugh from my right and turned there. Same result. Then, there was a snicker and a laugh from behind me. It started out quietly, but eventually grew into roaring laughter and cheering. It sounded like something you might hear at a sports game or something, and it seemed to be coming from everywhere.

What are they laughing and cheering at? I thought. I turned back towards the spotlight, and my eyes widened. Who is that? Standing in the spotlight was a person in a black robe with a matching hood covering their head and face.

"Hello, everybody," the robed figure said as everyone settled down to whispers. "You all know who I am, and I know who all of you are, and let's just say, we've been through a lot. There have been some defeats and successes, but in the end, we managed to pull through and win. So are you ready for our reward?" The whole area vibrated with whoops and hollers. "Well, then bring them on out!"

I gasped as one by one, we, the newer guardians, were being dragged out into the spotlight, handcuffed and gagged. The cheering got louder if that was even possible. Oh yeah, and we were transformed, too, so I don't know why we didn't just bust out of the constraints. But that wasn't the most surprising part. Dragging us into the spotlight was none other than W.I.T.C.H.! My mouth fell open in shock. _What is W.I.T.C.H. doing? Why are they helping the bad guys?_

I frowned as W.I.T.C.H. pushed us onto our knees, facing the mysterious figure. They showed no emotion. I stared as Will pushed down AJ, Irma pushed down Kara, Taranee pushed down Sam, Cornelia pushed down Stevie, and Hay Lin pushed me down... Well, not me, exactly, but the other me who was transformed, handcuffed, and gagged. It felt weird watching myself out of my body, doing things. It was sort of like seeing myself in a messed up mirror. I watched my friends' faces as this happened, and they were all shocked and horrified at what might happen. You could tell because of their eyes.

I watched as each former guardian held down their corresponding guardian's shoulders, probably to prevent them from getting up. It was getting kind of hard to see what was happening, so I moved over to the side to get a better look, making sure not to bump into anybody.

"Thank you W.I.T.C.H.," the robed figure said. "Now why don't you sit and stay." W.I.T.C.H. got on their knees as some weird misshapen monster things came out to hold all of them down. Then, some blue humanoid guy (like the ones Kara and I saw in Meridian) with blond hair handcuffed and gagged each former guardian and shoved them in line with the newer guardians. He was grinning from ear to ear. _Who is that guy?_ "Now are you guys ready for the main event!?" the mysterious figure yelled out, getting a roar of encouragement. "It's time for the DESTRUCTION of the GUARDIANS!" More whoops and hollers filled the space as I paled. _Did he just say destruction? Of the guardians?_

I watched as the figure grabbed the other 'me' out of the line and threw me in front of the others. The monster that was guarding me moved over and continued to hold the other me down. "Now, what to do. What to do," the figure said, acting like it was contemplating. "Oh yeah, now I remember." They then, snapped their fingers as a golden sword appeared in their right hand. "Oh right, off with their heads!" they shouted, making the crowd go crazy as he positioned the sword right above the other me's neck. W.I.T.C.H. stared with blank expressions as my friends (even Stevie) started to freak out. Tears were rolling down their faces as they struggled with all their might to get free, but I guess that the monsters must have had an iron grip because they didn't even budge. In fact, all the struggling did was just cause more monsters to hold them down for extra insurance. My friends were trying to yell out against it, but their words came out into muffles due to their gags. I looked at the other me's face and saw tears running down her face, too. Her eyes were shut tightly with her head down.

I stood there, paralyzed with fear and horror at what they were about to do. My muscles tensed and my heart raced. "But first, we need our special guest," the mysterious figure said suddenly. They snapped their fingers, causing Hay Lin to shake her head and her gag to disappear. What did they just do?

Hay Lin blinked her eyes a few times before looking around. She paled after realizing what was happening. "W-Who are you?" she questioned, struggling with her bonds. The monster tightened its grip on her.

The robed figure threw back his head and laughed. _What's wrong with them?_ Everyone got quiet. "Who am I? Who am I?" the figure bellowed out loud, laughing. "I'm about to cut off _your daughter's_ head, and the first question you ask is 'Who am I?'"

Hay Lin paled even more (if that was possible) and looked at the other 'me', who looked up back at her. Then, she saw the golden sword in the figure's hand and looked back at the other me. It was like the figure's words finally clicked inside her mind. "No, you wouldn't," she said, tears springing to her eyes.

A shiver went down my spine as I could feel the mysterious figure smile underneath its hood. "Oh, but I would," they said creepily. "And I'm going to make you watch every second of it." The figure raised his blade right above the other me's neck.

That's when Hay Lin started freaking out. "No! No, don't! Please! Take my life instead of hers!" she begged as tears ran down her face. More monsters came to hold her back and keep her still. A couple of them were even holding her eyes open, probably so she can't just close her eyes shut when it happens. "I'll do anything!"

The figure clicked its tongue. "It's far too late for that now. You chose this fate when you left your family!" They raised their sword higher, getting ready to bring it down as the crowd went wild again. _What's wrong with this crowd? They're enjoying watching children about to be murdered._

Suddenly, it was like my senses came into overdrive, and I dashed for the figure, trying to stop him from killing me... Or the other 'me' that is. My adrenaline was pumping and my heart racing faster than ever. The sword was coming down as my mind went numb and I let my body take over. I saw my friends and Hay Lin freaking out even more, while waterfalls of tears fell from their eyes. Their muffles were louder as Hay Lin was scream-pleading them to stop.

Right before the blade touched flesh, I dived, trying to take the robed figure down before the unspeakable happened, but I never touched them. I phased right through the person and crashed into the ground. I heard Hay Lin and the other me scream unbearably loud and the crowd get even louder as I felt something wet splash on my legs. The figure threw their golden sword down, and my stomach jumped to my throat when I saw what was on it. A red substance gleamed on the sword as my eyes widened. There was blood on the sword.

But that wasn't the worst part. The worst part was that I phased through the robed figure, which means that this wasn't any ordinary dream. It was a premenition of the future.

(End of Premonition)

* * *

A/N: Thanks to MetroNeko for putting this story on their Favorites! And thanks for reading!


	19. Chapter 19

19

Disclaimer: I do NOT own W.I.T.C.H.

* * *

CeCe gasped as her premonition ended. Her eyes fluttered open to see W.I.T.C.H., Elyon, her friends, and the Oracle staring at her.

"Uh, hi," Kara said sheepishly, waving. "How was your premonition?"

CeCe stayed quiet. She was still shocked by what she saw. _Is that really what's going to happen in the future?_ She thought to herself. _Is that what our future fate is?_

_Future fate?_ Stevie thought questioned. _What are you talking about?_

_Is anything not private anymore?_ CeCe thought sort of angrily.

_Uh, pretty much, _Kara thought answered.

_So,_ AJ thought. _Are you going to tell us about this premonition or not?_

CeCe thought sighed. _Fine, but you aren't going to like it. It's horrifying and scary. I don't even want to think about it. _

_Was it really that bad?_ Stevie inquired. _Or are you just acting like a big baby?_

_Shut up, Stevie,_ CeCe thought, definitely angry now. _I'm not being a baby._

_We know you aren't,_ CeCe, Kara reassured her. _We just want to know what happened._

_Fine!_ CeCe thought. _You want to know what happened?_

_Yes,_ AJ thought answered. _Yes, we do._

_You really, really want of know what happened?_ CeCe thought.

_Yes,_ Kara thought, getting agitated. _We really, really want to know what happened._

_Do you really, really, really want to -,_ CeCe thought before she was cut off by Stevie.

_Yes! We do!_ Stevie thought shouted, getting tired off CeCe beating around the bush. _Now are you going to tell us already or not!?_

_Fine!_ CeCe thought yelled. _We all get killed in my premonition okay! All of us and W.I.T.C.H. gets their head chopped off, got it!? We all die because we're guardians! Is that what you wanted to know!?_

Silence in the thought line.

_I'm sorry, guys,_ CeCe thought apologized, breaking the silence. _I didn't mean to snap. I'm just stressed._

_It's okay, CeCe, _AJ thought. _So do you think that there's a way that you can show us the premonition through our thoughts?_

_I don't know,_ CeCe thought replied. _But I guess I can try. _

"Is this what it's like when we used to talk to each other through telepathy?" Irma asked, watching the newer guardians. "Because it's seriously awkward when you're not in the conversation."

"Join the club, Irma," Elyon said, knowing exactly how Irma felt. She's felt the same way for over 40 years!

"What do you guys think that they're talk- errr, thinking about to each other?" Cornelia wondered.

"They're probably talking to each other about CeCe's premonition," Hay Lin answered. "I wonder what her premonition was about... What if it was something bad?"

"I hate to say it, but it probably is about something bad that's going to happen," Taranee stated. "I mean when have you ever had a premonition that was about something good, Hay Lin?"

Hay Lin rubbed the back of her head, thinking. "You're right," she agreed. "I don't think that I ever have had a premonition that was about something good. It's usually always about something bad that's going to happen."

"Exactly," Taranee said.

Will sighed. "Well, I guess that we'll just have to hope that it's about a small, fixable bad thing."

"Afraid not," CeCe said, looking down at her tennis shoes. She looked up to meet everybody's eyes before taking a deep breath and saying, "In my premonition, we all die."

W.I.T.C.H.'s and Elyon's mouths flew open, while the Oracle remained calm. "Say what now?" Taranee asked very shocked at this news. "W-We all die?"

CeCe nodded. "Well, all of us except for Elyon and the Oracle. W.I.T.C.H. and we, the newer guardians, get our heads chopped off."

"Our heads get chopped off," Hay Lin stated, putting a hand on her head. "But I like my head."

"Well, then this should be fun," Irma mumbled sarcastically.

"Shut up, Irma," Cornelia snapped. "This is serious." She turned towards CeCe. "So who was it that... You know? Was it Phobos?"

CeCe shook her head. "No, it wasn't Phobos," she answered, looking down at the signatures on her cast. W.I.T.C.H., Elyon, and her friends had all signed it. "It was some other person."

W.I.T.C.H. and Elyon gave each other puzzling looks. "Uh, could you be a little bit more specific than that?" Will questioned. "That's not exactly a lot to go on."

CeCe sighed tiredly. "I don't know. I didn't see a face or anything. The person was wearing a black hood and robe. But if you need more to go on, then the person really seemed to dislike Hay Lin especially," CeCe explained. "Not that I can blame them," she added super quietly.

"What do you mean?" Elyon inquired. "How did you know that?"

"Well, it seemed like they wanted Hay Lin to suffer as much as possible," CeCe answered, shrugging. "I mean I don't know why, but that's just what it seemed like."

"Okay, so is there anything else that we should know about the premonition?" Taranee asked, trying to figure this out. "You know, even the smallest detail could be important."

CeCe thought about it for a second. "Uh, no, I can't think of anything else... Uh, wait. We were in our guardian forms when we... You know..."

"Is that it?" Will said.

CeCe nodded. "Pretty much."

_What about the fact that they helped in our demise?_ Kara thought questioned after watching CeCe's premonition in her head.

_So what about it?_ CeCe thought asked.

_Aren't you going to tell them?_ Kara thought.

_Yeah, seriously,_ AJ thought piped up. _This is a huge detail. I mean maybe they can figure out what happened to them and try to avoid it._

_Guys, that's great advice and all, but with the solution I have, we won't have to worry about whether that detail is small or large or whatever,_ Stevie thought. _We won't have to worry about dying or getting our heads chopped off or anything like that._

_Okay, genius,_ Kara thought sarcastically. _So what's this grand solution of yours that will magically fix all of our problems?_

_You'll see,_ Stevie thought responded smugly.

Suddenly, the doors shot open in a fiery blast of smoke, causing W.I.T.C.H. and Elyon to instinctually get into a battle stance while AJ, Kara, CeCe, and Stevie stared at it in shock. The Oracle just stood there calmly and peacefully like there wasn't something busting down the doors to the center of the universe.

"Hello, kiddies," a voice said creepily. The smoke cleared, and everyone was shocked.

"Phobos!" Will snarled, preparing herself for the battle that was sure to come. "How did you get here!?"

Phobos laughed. "Wouldn't you like to know?" he taunted, charging up his hands with energy balls.

_What should we do?_ CeCe thought asked. _Should we transform?_

_But changing could mean possible funerals, _Kara thought replied. _And I'm too young to die now!_

_Maybe you guys are right,_ AJ thought. Phobos then hurled a bunch of cackling energy balls at them. _But then again..._

"Guardians unite!" AJ yelled, holding out the Heart.

"You still think you can beat me!?" Phobos said as the current guardians floated down in uniform, dodging his attacks. "You're just puny Earthlings!"

"Well, at least we're not ugly!" Kara shouted as W.I.T.C.H., Elyon, and the current guardians surrounded Phobos. The Oracle was over near Sam to make sure she was okay and protect her from some of Phobos's stray attacks.

"Actually, he's kind of hot," Stevie whispered, looking at Phobos's long blond hair that almost rivaled her own.

"Stevie!" Kara hissed. "Really!?"

_Calling the enemy hot in the middle of a battle?_ Kara thought asked. _Really?_

_Hey, it's not my fault he looks hot,_ Stevie thought replied. _Blame him._

_Guys, not now,_ AJ thought scolded. _We've got work to do._

_Right,_ everyone thought responded.

"Anyways, let's get this over quickly," Phobos said as dozens of energy balls floated around his body. "Or maybe we should make your demise slower and more painful."

"I think I'll take faster, if you don't mind," Irma said.

Phobos growled and launched his energy balls in all directions. Stevie attempted to make an earth wall with her powers, but it was a total fail. She ended up making an earth pole that was only three feet high. Not exactly the best thing for a shield. Luckily, Elyon managed to put a force field around Phobos in time, so the attacks just ricocheted around inside, hitting Phobos in the process.

"Nice one, Elyon!" Cornelia beamed at her best friend.

"See Phobos, we're so good that we didn't even have to move a finger to beat you," Irma gloated with a smug smile.

Phobos smiled cockily. "Now it's my turn," he said, preparing an energy blast, but it soon dissipated into nothing. Phobos looked shocked. "M-My powers!" he exclaimed, trying to make energy balls to no prevail. Suddenly, he started changing. His silky long blond hair turned into dirty disheveled gray hair, while his smooth skin turned all wrinkly and old. "No, this can't be! No! No! Nooooooo!"

_Still think he's hot, Stevie?_ Kara thought snickered.

_Shut up, Green,_ Stevie thought snapped.

"Mysterious figure, please help me!" Phobos called out from within the force field. The good guys exchanged glances at each other. Was it possible that Phobos was talking about the black robed figure from CeCe's prmeonition?

A strange voice rang out through Kandrakar. "Too bad, Phobos," it bellowed. "You're an idiot."

"You can't just leave me here!" Phobos cried out.

"Uh, I sort of just did," the disembodied voice replied.

Silence. Well, except for Phobos angrily cursing out the mysterious figure.

"So, Phobos," Will said, moving closer to Phobos's force field prison. "Who's the mysterious figure you were just talking to?"

"I don't know their name or anything else," he answered, not caring that he was ratting out his boss. His boss left him, so they meant nothing to him now. "They always wore a black robe that covered their body and face."

Everyone gasped, except for Phobos and the Oracle. "So the person is real, which means that CeCe's premonition could actually come true," Taranee stated.

Phobos raised a gray eyebrow. "Premonition? What about?"

"None of your beeswax," Kara snapped as AJ powered them down. "Don't you have somewhere like prison to be?"

"Right," Elyon said as she opened a portal and trapped Phobos in a force field bubble. She then picked Phobos and his prison up with her powers and flung him into the fold. "I'll take Phobos back to Meridian, while you guys figure this out." She then stepped through herself.

"So we need a solution to this problem," Hay Lin said, clasping her hands together. "Anyone got any ideas?"

"What problem exactly?" Cornelia questioned confused.

"The Sam and CeCe's premonition problem," Will answered for Hay Lin. "So, ideas?"

"I've got one," Stevie stated, flipping her long blond hair.

"Yes?" Cornelia asked. "What's your idea?"

"Well," Stevie answered. "I was thinking about it and since we got our heads chopped off while in guardian form... What if we didn't have a guardian form? That would prevent the premonition from happening."

"Stevie, what are you saying?" AJ questioned, while giving Stevie a weird look.

"I'm saying, what if we quit being guardians?" Stevie answered, getting gasps from everybody.

"Can they even do that, Oracle?" Irma inquired wide eyed.

The Oracle nodded. "If the guardians chose to quit, they would forgot everything that has happened to them since the day they became the guardians. And those memories that were erased would be replaced with false memories. But for this to happen, there needs to be at least a majority vote."

"Okay," Will said, starting to walk to the now charred big doors. "I think that we should let the new guardians process this new info and let them decide whatever they choose alone." She turned towards the current guardians. "Choose wisely." And with that W.I.T.C.H. and the Oracle left the room to give the current guardians time to think things over.

"So that means that at least three of us would have to say 'yes'," Kara concluded as the doors to the room shut with a thump.

"No dip, Sherlock," Stevie said. "And I for one, am going to quit while I still have a head."

"What?" CeCe questioned. "You're going to quit? Why?"

"Why?" Stevie said sort of angrily. "Because look at all that's happened! We haven't even been guardians for two full _days_, and one of us has already been captured and tortured a ton. You've broken an arm, and now we find out that we're going to _die _because we're guardians? Let's face it. This job is way too dangerous for us. Because of it, Sam is going to have mental and emotional problems that we don't even know for sure that we can heal. I don't know about you people, but I don't want to end up like her or get damaged for life."

"I can't believe I'm saying this, but I think that Stevie is right," Kara agreed. "I mean can you really blame me if I don't want to get my head chopped off?"

"No...," AJ said. "But let's look at the bright side of being guardians. We get superpowers and the chance to be able to do good things. We get to be able to save people and talk to each other using our minds. We get to be great friends, and -"

"But is all of that worth it?" Stevie interrupted. "Besides, if we quit, then, Sam will forgot about ever getting hurt and tortured, which will cause her not to have the emotional and mental problems she has now. She would be healed." She looked towards CeCe. "Don't you want your best friend to be healed, CeCe?"

"Of course I do," CeCe said, shuffling her feet. "It's just that -"

"Just what?" Stevie inquired. "What else do you need? If we continue being guardians, then we'll die. It's as simple as that. Plus, if we quit, then, you'll forget that Hay Lin is your birth mother."

CeCe hesitated. "I guess quitting doesn't sound that bad..."

"What?" AJ said in shock. _Is everyone quitting on me?_ She thought. _Seriously guys?_

"AJ, c'mon," CeCe said. "We're not quitting on you... We're just quitting the job. I mean I've done some thinking and I realized that quitting would not only save us but also W.I.T.C.H., too. I mean just because I'm mad at Hay Lin doesn't mean that I want her to die necessarily. She is my birth mother even if I don't like it."

"Yeah, I guess I can sort of see where you guys are coming from now," AJ sighed. She didn't really feel like fighting with them, and besides, even if she said 'no', then they would still end up quitting because there was already a majority vote. "So I guess we're quitting, right?"

"Yes," CeCe, Kara, and Stevie all answered at the same time.

Suddenly, the door opened and the Oracle and W.I.T.C.H. stepped into Kandrakar's Congregation Hall. "So," the Oracle started. "Have you all decided?"

"Yes, Mr. Oracle," AJ announced, taking a step towards the Oracle and them. "We have decided to quit our job as Guardians of the Veil."

The Oracle nodded grimly. "If that is your choice, then so be it," he said as a blue fold opened up next to him. "Once you have passed through this fold, there is no turning back. Your memories will be erased with false ones in place, and your lives will continue like normal."

"Okay, thank you," AJ said gratefully as she and the other guardians started to head towards the floating blue portal.

"Wait!" Irma shouted, causing them to stop and turn towards her. "I just wanted to say that it was nice meeting all of you."

"Yeah," Cornelia agreed. "I think that we can all agree that we'll miss you guys."

"And that it was an honor to know all of you," Hay Lin said with a smile. "By the way, CeCe and Kara, sorry for you guys getting arrested on accident."

"No problem," Kara replied, smiling goofily. "My favorite past time activity is getting arrested."

"Yeah, well try not to get arrested too much," Irma said jokingly.

"And be good guys," Taranee added. "Don't forget to do well in school, too. It's important."

"Okay," Stevie replied. She would never admit it, but she would definitely miss being a guardian... You know, if she actually remembered what a guardian was after this.

"See you all soon in Biology," Will said with a wink.

"See you later and I'll miss you all," AJ said, stepping into the portal, disappearing from sight.

"Yahoooo," Kara yelled, jumping into the fold.

"I'll miss being able to do stuff like this," Stevie said, using her powers of telekinesis to lift Sam and float her into the blue vortex before stepping inside herself.

CeCe walked towards the portal until she was right in front of it. "Goodbye everybody," she said before stepping inside of the fold that would cause part of her memories to disappear.

"I can't believe that they're gone," Hay Lin said sadly as the fold closed. "I can't believe that _she's _gone."

"Don't worry, Hay Hay," Irma said, patting Hay Lin's back reassuringly. "There's always the viewing pool."

"But that's not the same," Hay Lin insisted quietly. "It's not the same."

"So what now?" Taranee asked, pushing her glasses back onto the bridge of her nose. "Is that it?"

"What do you mean?" Will questioned.

"I mean the mysterious figure is still out there more powerful than ever," Taranee explained. "Who's going to stop them? Are we getting different guardians?"

"Well, if that happens, then I guess Elyon can manage to protect Meridian from them for a while," Cornelia said. "You know, until the newer guardians come."

"And I'm sure that Lillian will be able to protect Earth for a while," Irma stated. "Plus, we'll be there, too, so you know, Earth will be covered."

The Oracle smiled. "We aren't getting new guardians."

"Excuse me?" Cornelia inquired confused. "What?"

"Nerissa and the new mysterious threat will be stopped," the Oracle replied. "But not by different guardians."

"Nerissa?" Taranee said, scrunching her nose in confusion. Then, it was like a light bulb went off in her head. "That's why Julian's house was burned down! To get the jewel that Nerissa was trapped in!"

Silence.

"So what were you saying about different guardians, Oracle?" Hay Lin questioned.

"Oh, right, yes," the Oracle said with a smile. "Sam, AJ, CeCe, Kara, and Stevie will be back." He paused and looked into the viewing pool, which currently showed the girls sleeping in their own rooms. "Because once a guardian, always a guardian."

* * *

A/N: And that's the end! Yeah, I guess that they are being kind of selfish, but they do have a point… Errrr, multiple points there. They probably just need a break to come back to their senses or something….. Don't worry; they'll get pulled back in later. (If I ever write a sequel….) I know the ending was kind of bad, but yeah... Sorry about that… Hey, I just realized that their first names spells SACKS! Sam (or Stevie), AJ, CeCe, Kara, and Stevie (or Sam)! SACKS!... Yeah, I think I'll just stick to The Next New Guardians…

Anyways, thanks for reading! And thanks to The meteorologist 1991 for reviewing and favoriting and following this story/me. I'm serious, it means a lot. :)


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